Questions tagged [geology]
Questions related to processes and principles related to the interior and the solid surface of a planetary body.
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Why are most lunar maria on the visible side?
Is there any reason why the Earth side of the Moon has enormous plains and mountains, while the far side contains just few small ones inside largest craters?
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Are there any planets or moons denser than Earth?
Earth has the highest density out of all planets, planetoids and moons of our planetary system, and also has a higher density than the Sun. Do we know any exoplanets or moons denser than Earth?
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Why isn't Earth a perfect sphere? [closed]
In general, almost everyone describes Earth as an perfect sphere, but in reality it isn't a perfect sphere.
Is there any specific reason why Earth is not perfect sphere ?
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Is there convection in Mars' mantle?
Mars is differentiated, with a core, a mantle and a crust. There are no (longer any) plate tectonics on Mars. Does this mean there is no convection in the mantle? Could there be convection in the ...
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When was the last volcanic eruption on Mars?
There are several volcanoes on Mars, including Olympus Mons, the largest volcano in the solar system, the volcanoes on the Tharsis bulge,... But they are all thought to be inactive now.
When did the ...
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Why is the Earth's center still hot after millions of years? [closed]
Why didn't the center of the earth cool after millions or billions of years? What keeps it hot?
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How many iridium layers do we know, besides the K-Pg one (the dinosaur killer "smoking gun")?
The hypothesis of a large asteroid impact playing a role in dinosaurs extinction was strengthened by the discovery of a global iridium anomaly in the geologic record, at the Cretaceous–Paleogene (K-Pg)...
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How strong are the strongest Ioquakes?
Jupiter's moon Io is the most geologically active celestial body in our system. It has the strongest volcanoes and quakes. Of course in practice these quakes wouldn't be as dangerous as on Earth for ...
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What is the temperature 55 km beneath the surface of Mars?
What is the temperature 55 km (34.18 miles) beneath the surface of Mars? The reason I ask is that I want to know if it might be habitable for a possible future colony if they could dig that deep (...
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How did the Archimedes crater fill with lava?
This is the Archimedes crater, on the moon, near the Apollo 15 landing site.
It is located in Mare Imbrium, a plain filled with lava.
The strange thing is that the interior of the crater looks flat, ...
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How much mass do the volcanoes of Io erupt past escape velocity?
While trying to do some calculations to answer this quesion, I got stuck missing a crucial piece of data: I have no clue how much mass the volcanoes of Io manage to throw out of the gravity well of ...
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How many quakes have been detected by InSight?
Insight has been on Mars with its seismometer for almost two years now. Has it detected any mars-quakes yet? How often do these quakes seem to occur?
Is there a website where the current number of ...
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Is there evidence for galactic "seasons"?
The Solar Year has huge effects on our climate, and the signs of passing seasons are physically evident on Earth. I recently learned about the Galactic Year. To my understanding, our sun orbits the ...
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Is extraterrestrial mining more difficult or impractical for bodies without plate tectonics?
This article talks about the possibility of mining Uranium on the moon. Since the Moon lacks the geological forces that have created veins of concentrated minerals on Earth, would extraterrestrial ...
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Are the Venusian "continents" likely to have existed before the global resurfacing event?
A topographic map of the surface of Venus shows the large highland areas Ishtar Terra, Aphrodite Terra and Lada Terra that have occasionally been described as "continents", plus various ...
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