Presented by: Prof. Jun Korenaga
Affiliation: Yale University
Location: Young Hall 4222
Abstract:
The early evolution of the Earth-Moon system prescribes the tidal environment of the Hadean Earth and holds the key to the formation mechanism of the Moon. Estimating its early state by backtracking from the present, however, suffers from considerable uncertainties associated with ocean tides. Tidal evolution during the solidification of Earth’s magma ocean, on the other hand, has the potential to provide robust constraints on the Earth-Moon system before the appearance of a water ocean. To this end, it is of vital importance to understand how energy dissipates in a solidifying magma ocean and how tidal dissipation interacts with atmospheric evolution. These issues have turned out to be much more complicated than previously thought, and as it stands, many of the existing variations of the Moon-forming giant impact hypothesis appear to be unable to explain the present-day angular momentum of the Earth-Moon system, calling for further innovative ideas on the formation of the Moon.