Making Earth Habitable – Constraints from the analysis of planetary materials

Date/Time
Date(s) - 08/01/2018
12:00 am

Dr. Audrey Bouvier, University of Western Ontario

Planetary formation and evolution during the first 500 million years of the Solar System’s history can be deciphered through the study of meteorites and samples returned from space missions as well as from remote observations. By studying meteorites, we have found evidence that several short-lived radiogenic isotopes were present initially in the early Solar System and are now extinct. Some of them like 26-Al contributed to the internal heating of planetesimals and hence their ability to melt as well as setting their budgets in volatile elements delivered to planets. Other refractory elements can be used as tracers for the building blocks, late accretion, and constraining the timing of volatile element delivery within the terrestrial planets. I will talk about our current knowledge of the nucleosynthetic heritage of the Solar System, how we can use isotopes as tracers and chronometers of planetary formation, and how major planetary impact events have influenced the evolution of our planet and set the geological conditions for life to develop.