Advances in Earth Science ›› 1997, Vol. 12 ›› Issue (5): 399-410. doi: 10.11867/j.issn.1001-8166.1997.05.0399

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APPLICATION OF SHOCK WAVE PHYSICS TO EARTH AND PLANETARY SCIENCES

BI Yan,GONG Zizheng   

  1. Laboratory for Shock Wave and Detonation Physics Research,Southwest Institute of Fluid Physics,P.O.Box523,Chengdu,Sichuan 610003P.R.China
  • Received:1996-08-10 Revised:1997-01-21 Online:1997-10-01 Published:1997-10-01

BI Yan,GONG Zizheng. APPLICATION OF SHOCK WAVE PHYSICS TO EARTH AND PLANETARY SCIENCES[J]. Advances in Earth Science, 1997, 12(5): 399-410.

 In this paper, the recent achivements of shock wave physics applied to Earth and Planetary Sciences are reviewed, including the state and composition of Earth interior, the compositional models of major planets, and the processes of impacting, createring and accreting in the solar system. With the development of shock compression methods for obtaining pressure density Hugoniot curve, it become clear that these can be applied to both determining the equation of state and investigating polymorphic phase changes in silicate minerals of planetary mantles and crusts, as well as the iron alloys of the metallic cores of terrestrial planets. These data, when taken with seismological models of the Earth, yield constraints on the composition of the Earth’s mantle and core. Whereas, the data above and other similar data for low temperature condensable gases (H 2, He) and ices (H 2O, CH 4, CO 2, NH 3), combined with solar elements abundance and Jeffrey’s number data, have been used to construct compositional models of the major planets (e.g., Jupiter and Saturm). Shock temperature measurements of the possible minerals in the Earth interior could be applied to investigate their melting behaviors , with which a phase diagram at high pressures could be constructed , and could provide a constraint to the quasi-static creep rheology of the mantle that controls convection. Shock compression of molten silicates at upper mantle pressures provides a constraint on the depths in the mantle from which molten lava can reach the surface as a result of its buoyancy relative to the surrounding solid. Application of shock wave data is critical to describe the energy partitioning upon hypervelocity impact on planetary surface, and permits caculation of the melt and vapor produced by impactors as a function of impact velocity, as well as provides a quantitative basis for determining the degree of erosion or accretion upon planetary impact as a function of impact and planetary escape velocity. On the other hand, shock induced devolatization during the impact processes is also addressable using shock wave and other thermodynamic data, and can be used to depict the formation of Earth’s primitive atomsphere. Furthermore, giant impacts upon the Earth surface could release plenty of gases, such as CO 2 and SO 2 into the atmosphere that strongly affect the global climate, which appears to have played a major role in the evolution and extinction of species during the Earth’s history.

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