InDyMag · Internal Dynamics and Magnetic field generation in rocky bodies: planets and large moons in the solar system
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2019-03-13 → 2021-09-14
- EU contribution
- €185,076
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Internal Dynamics and Magnetic field generation in rocky bodies: planets and large moons in the solar system
The IndyMag project goal is to better understand the generation of magnetic fields in the rocky bodies of the solar system and beyond, combining models of the long term evolution of planetary interiors and planetary cores (how they evolve, how they crystallize), and observations of evidence of magnetic fields on such bodies. The innermost planets in the Solar System are rocky. To first order their composition is similar to the Earth’s one, with an iron core, a silicate mantle and a surrounding crust. Their internal dynamics, in the core and mantle, present a large diversity of features, and this work is interested in the main product of the core dynamics: the magnetic field. Amongst the solar system planets, only Venus shows no sign of a past or present magnetic field. Other rocky bodies present evidence of present (the Earth, Mercury) or past (Mars, the Moon) magnetic fields, with various time and spatial variability. This diversity is poorly understood, and often planets are studied in separate studies. The goal of the IndyMag project is to (i) model quantitative thermal and compositional evolution of rocky bodies’ cores, including variations in size and compositions and to (ii) generate synthetic observables of the time evolution and structure of the magnetic field of telluric bodies, to be compared to existing observations and models. We showed that the thermal and chemical evolution of a planetary core is controlled primarily by its crystallization. We modeled the crystallization through two complementary approach: study of the effect of the crystallization on the solid fraction (Lasbleis et al. 2020, Geoph. Res. Lett.) and model of the thermal and compositional evolution of the outer core for various planetary properties (Bonati et al, 2021)
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
The Earth is a peculiar planet in the solar system: it hosts life and possesses a very active interior. However, it is not the only rocky body to present evidence of internal dynamics: all the rocky planets - except Venus - and some moons have been proved to generate or to have generated a magnetic field. Recent space missions have improved our knowledge of the evolution of these magnetic fields, and direct constraints on the internal structure of some rocky planets are expected in the very next few years. New hypotheses emerged recently to explain the early times of the Earth’s magnetic field, when no thermo-chemical convection could power the geodynamo, giving us new perspectives on Earth’s history. By combining advances in both Earth and planetary sciences, InDyMag aims to better understand the internal dynamics of the Earth and other rocky bodies in our solar system. It will investigate the generation and long-term evolution of their magnetic fields with Earth as a reference, and compare it Mercury, Venus, and Mars, and the Earth's Moon and Ganymede. The fellow, expert in geodynamics and modeling, will develop a model for the time evolution of temperature and composition profiles in metallic cores, exploring a large range of parameters including planet's size, composition and formation history. The crystallization regimes and the initial profiles will be investigated in detail, exploring the full range of dynamics possible in an iron core. Thanks to the expertise of the researchers at the host LPG on space missions and magnetic field measurements, InDyMag will combine observations to geodynamical models to constrain the physical parameters of planetary cores. InDyMag will unravel what is universal in planetary magnetic fields, and what is planet-specific. Its results will be disseminated to the general and specialist audience and will lay the foundations to explore planetary magnetic fields at the exoplanet level.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS · ParisCoordinatorFrance
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union