Product Code Database
A lava planet is a type of terrestrial planet whose planetary surface is mostly or entirely covered by or pools of erupted lava. Situations where such planets could exist include a young terrestrial planet just after its formation, a planet that has recently suffered a large crust-splitting impact event, or a planet orbiting very close to its star causing intense irradiation and to melt its surface.
However, tidal heating is not the only factor shaping a lava planet. In addition to tidal heating from orbiting close to their parent star, the intense stellar irradiation could melt the surface crust directly into lava. The entire star-facing surface of a tidally locked planet could be left covered in a lava ocean while the nightside may have , or even lava rain caused by the condensation of vaporized rock from the dayside. The mass of the planet would also be a factor. The appearance of plate tectonics on terrestrial planets is related to planetary mass, with more massive planets than Earth expected to exhibit plate tectonics and thus more intense volcanic activity. Also, a Mega Earth may retain so much internal heat from its formation that a solid crust cannot form.
tend to have intense volcanic activity resulting from large amounts of internal heating just after formation, even relatively small planets that orbit far from their parent stars. Lava planets can also result from giant impacts; Earth was briefly a lava planet after being impacted by a Mars-sized body which formed the Moon.
A 2020 preprint study finds that lava planets have low of around 0.1 and that molten lava on the surface can cool and harden to form Quenching.
|
|
