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After researching on and off for a few months, I thought I had how a Carbon Planet would work down right, up to and including an ammonia-based xenobiology, but a video I saw today got me wondering if I have this completely right. All the various sources I’ve seen before on these worlds said they’d have a carbide crust, but apparently when water interacts with silicon carbide under high heat and pressure (like in a mantle), they react to produce methane and silicon dioxide. This seems like it would tend to make the surfaces of these worlds quite rich in silicates, despite their poor oxygen composition. Is that right? Would a carbon world wind up with a silicate rich crust following water-deposition by comets?

Then there's the diamond layer posited to exist on these worlds in the upper mantle/lower crust. I knew such a layer would tend to make a planet cool faster given diamond's thermal properties, but I had kind of assumed that diamond layer wouldn't be a solid piece and wouldn’t be a problem for plate tectonics. Would that diamond layer get in the way of tectonics? That would put a damper on the research I did while designing ammonia-ocean planets, but I can't seem to find the source for this concern.

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  • $\begingroup$ Please keep in mind that this isn't a discussion forum. Respondents to a reality-check question are either upvoting your question or giving you answers that explain why your scenario fails to conform to the rules of your world. Just to set your expectations after seeing "thoughts?" in your text. (Oh, and you've tagged the question hard-science concerning a fictional classification system. Expect people to ignore the tag.] $\endgroup$
    – JBH
    Commented Oct 9, 2020 at 3:51
  • $\begingroup$ Is it fictional, or more hypothetical? I think the real problem is that there is so little research on what carbon planets would most likely be like that the OP probably knows more about them than anyone who might answer. As in I feel like reading the question by itself improved my understanding of the state of the subject, and a good answer would be great just because of how scarce scientifically-backed models of these things are. $\endgroup$
    – CAE Jones
    Commented Oct 10, 2020 at 11:13
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    $\begingroup$ Fictional, but hard-science based. It's a new version of the ArcBuilders planetary classification list that the Orion's Arm Non-Luminary one is an offshoot of. I've been collaborating with the original creator on updating it for use in both our projects. $\endgroup$
    – Sam D. Jones
    Commented Oct 10, 2020 at 18:48
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    $\begingroup$ I know it's been two years but considering the lack of research available in the first place(among other things) science-based may be a better tag $\endgroup$
    – The Commander
    Commented Mar 25, 2023 at 18:44
  • $\begingroup$ I think this question is pretty much dead given that the the one who asked it has not shown up for over 2 years. But hey maybe I'll over a bounty on this some day to maybe get finally at least some answers for it. $\endgroup$
    – Fallenspacerock
    Commented Mar 22 at 14:02

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