Timeline for Why can't a half-illuminated planet support life at all?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
12 events
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| Oct 9, 2023 at 14:25 | comment | added | Joshua | The models I construct keep on leading to blocking most of your liquid part with ice shoved across it; since the action increases the albedo it has the propensity of getting stuck like that. | |
| Oct 9, 2023 at 14:22 | comment | added | gerrit | @Joshua A continent covering the liquid part would be problematic as there would be no open water anywhere. A continent anywhere else would be fine. Does volcanism necessarily lead to continents large enough such that they will eventually occupy the entire liquid part? | |
| Oct 9, 2023 at 14:06 | comment | added | Joshua | What's continental drift going to do to your ice? I keep on generating models that go from bad to lethal. | |
| Oct 9, 2023 at 14:01 | comment | added | gerrit | @Joshua Why would active vulcanism be a problem for the rig-up sketched here? Some volcanic islands might pop up under the ice layer or through the ice layer (nunataks) and have occasional eruptions. Large eruptions can temporarily disrupt the climate, but I don't know why it would make the situation illustrated in the image unstable. | |
| Oct 9, 2023 at 13:53 | comment | added | Joshua | Your particular rig-up here looks unstable in the presence of active vulcanism. It is known that sulphur and prosperous are mandatory (yes there's that paper involving arsenic; it's less available than phosphorous here) I'm more familiar with the eyeball planet which loses too much hydrogen. | |
| Oct 9, 2023 at 7:02 | comment | added | gerrit | @Joshua To answer your question: I have no clue. I'm aware of the opposite problem (solar wind stripping away light elements from the top of the atmosphere), but know essentially nothing about problems with heavy elements becoming out of reach without vulcanism. Can heavy elements be sustained without vulcanism? Can life exist without easy access to heavy elements? Is either related to be half-illuminated, or are those orthogonal problems? Many questions, which I don't think are all conclusively answered. | |
| Oct 9, 2023 at 6:47 | comment | added | gerrit | @Joshua That doesn't seem to be covered by the paper. | |
| Oct 7, 2023 at 20:30 | comment | added | Joshua | How does it avoid excess heavy element loss (that is, elements heavier than Oxygen)? One of the known requirements is active vulcanism to recycle elements that sink to the bottom of the oceans. | |
| Oct 6, 2023 at 9:35 | history | edited | gerrit | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Oct 6, 2023 at 7:52 | history | edited | gerrit | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Oct 6, 2023 at 7:43 | history | edited | gerrit | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Oct 6, 2023 at 7:36 | history | answered | gerrit | CC BY-SA 4.0 |