Sinking Iron Diapirs: A Model for Planetary Core Formation
Ruth Ziethe
ISBN 978-3-8325-0447-2
134 pages, year of publication: 2004
price: 40.50 €
Although all terrestrial planets are presently already separated
into an iron-rich core and a silicate mantle, the process of the
formation of a planetary core is still not well understood. Core
formation is generally thought to have occurred concurrently with or
soon after planet formation and happened rather rapidly. This work
shows that planetary core formation by the settling of iron--rich melt
bodies in a solid matrix is fast enough, if the viscosity of the
planetary mantle has a strong temperature dependence.