Modelling giant impacts and the subsequent thermochemical evolution of liquid metal in a convecting magma ocean (C02)

• Subject Area: Geophysics
• Term: since 2016
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 263649064

Giant impacts are likely to have heavily influenced core formation and the process of late accretion. In order to understand the fate of impacting material in an early Earth, it is key to comprehend how much material delivered by impacts is retained and how the material settles in a global or partial magma ocean. We combine impact modelling with sophisticated models of magma ocean evolution. First attempts have shown that the interaction of impacting material with ambient magma ocean depends on the size-frequency distribution of the particles, the vigor of convection in the magma ocean and on the rotation of the Earth. In further efforts we will determine under which circumstances particles will be able to chemically equilibrate with ambient material.

• DFG Programme: CRC/Transregios
• Subproject of: TRR 170: Late Accretion onto Terrestrial Planets
• Applicant Institution: Universität Münster
• Project Heads: Professor Dr. Ulrich Hansen; Professor Dr. Kai Wünnemann