Impact-induced atmospheres and oceans on Earth and Venus (original) (raw)

Nature volume 322, pages 526–528 (1986)Cite this article

Abstract

High-velocity impacts of planetesimals onto a growing planet result in the impact-degassing of volatiles and the formation of an impact-induced atmosphere. Because of the blanketing effect of such an atmosphere, it is likely that the surface of the proto-Venus melted once the radius exceeded ∼40% of the final radius. The final mass of H2O in the impact-generated atmosphere, predicted to be ∼1021 kg on the basis of thermal evolution models of the growing proto-Venus, does not depend on the initial water content of the Venus-forming planetesimals and is almost identical to the present mass of the Earth's oceans. We show here that an impact-induced H2O atmosphere of ∼1021 kg mass probably formed on both Venus and Earth during accretion, but that whereas H2O in the proto-atmosphere of the Earth could condense to form a hot (∼600 K) ocean, such condensation probably did not occur on Venus.

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Author notes

  1. Takafumi Matsui
    Present address: Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02139, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Geophysical Institute, Faculty of Science, University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113, Japan
    Takafumi Matsui & Yutaka Abe

Authors

  1. Takafumi Matsui
  2. Yutaka Abe

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Matsui, T., Abe, Y. Impact-induced atmospheres and oceans on Earth and Venus.Nature 322, 526–528 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1038/322526a0

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