Thursday, 20 November 2014

Does Mars contain more iron than the Earth?

Unless 100+ years of studying solar system formation didn't get us anywhere then you'd actually predict that mars would have less iron than earth (in relative terms). This is because the further out in the solar system you go, the lighter the materials that make up the celestial bodies become. You start off with the inner planets for example, which are made of rock and metal. At its most extreme is mercury, which has a metallic core that makes up the vast majority of its volume. As you start to move to the outer parts, there's much less metal. Even further out rocky material starts to peter until you're just left with frozen ices and covalent compounds. This pattern exists because when the solar system formed the heavier materials condensed near the centre while the lighter gases were blown away to the edges. Mars, being the last terrestrial planet, should have formed in an orbit that had less iron and heavy materials than earth and all the other rocky bodies.



However, its good to bet that on average there is more relative iron on mars surface than there is on earth. This would be because despite it's lower abundance of iron overall, it's much more spread out among the lithosphere rather than being entirely concentrated deep in its core like on earth. Mars being smaller planet might not have ever built up enough heat during its formation to completely liquefy its surface, which a planet needs in order for the heavier materials to sink to the centre, making differentiated layers such as the ones we see on earth like the crust, core and mantle etc. Don't get me wrong, mars does have these differentiated layers, but they probably aren't as pronounced as they are here on earth. This is what I think we can safely say is thus the reason for mar's red surface, despite it's location in the solar system.

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