Planetary Research at RSES
Introduction to planetary research
The Solar System formed 4.56 billion years ago out of a swirling molecular cloud of dust and gas. The solar nebula only lasted for several million years, but resulted in the system of planets, moons, asteroids and comets that we see today. The early solar system record is available to us through primitive meteorites that largely originate from the asteroid belt. These primitive meteorites contain inclusions from early high temperature processing (refractory inclusions and chondrules), as well as a matrix that interacted with nebula gas and contains volatile elements. Also within the matrix are presolar grains, material that has condensed around other stars that has survived solar system formation. These grains tell the story of stellar nuclear reactions and survival in the interstellar medium before their incorporation in our solar system.
Our view of the early solar system is compromised by our inability to place the objects in a spatial and chronological framework of the evolving solar nebula. We are working on these problems from two perspectives. Isotopic and chemical analyses of primitive materials can be used to build evolutionary models. Observations of evolving stellar systems give us a glimpse of what our solar system may have looked like at its birth.
In this context we have developed the Planetary Science Institute (PSI), a joint initiative between RSAA and RSES to foster collaborations on planetary evolution from different perspectives. The discovery of new extrasolar planets, determination of compositions of stars associated with planetary systems, physical mechanisms associated with the processing of gas and dust into planetary systems, and the context provided by our own solar system, may allow us to address issues concerning the distribution of planets in the galaxy, the distribution of the right ingredients for finding life in the galaxy and ultimately the formation, evolution, and fate of planetary systems in the Milky Way.Research topics
 |
Internal motions in the mantle are fundamental drivers of crustal geology and the evolution of the planet. The mantle flows by convection, which is driven by sinking tectonic plates and rising mantle plumes. Research topics include detailed numerical and laboratory modelling of mantle convection, including subduction and plumes, and the thermal and geochemical evolution of the mantle. The work complements work in geochronology and geochemistry, seismology, tectonics and subduction zones. It is also relevant to hazards from earthquakes and tsunamis. |
|
 |
Determination of elemental and isotopic compositions of extraterrestrial materials plays a fundamental role in elucidating the processes that were active in the early solar system. |
|
 |
The extensive early Archean rock records preserved in southwest Greenland and western Australia carry a wealth of information on the formation of Earth's early chemical domains, the age and composition of the oldest continents and the character of the early atmosphere and hydrosphere. Although these rocks range from 3.6 - 3.9 billion years old, the various isotopic signatures preserved in these rocks record events occurring in the first 500 million years of Earth. |