Crisp Posted February 25, 2013 Share Posted February 25, 2013 Lava ocean may have flowed on Mercury's surface billions of years ago Image from BBC A recent experiment conducted by MIT researchers has led some experts to believe an ocean of lava may have been flowing on Mercury's surface some four billion years ago. The finding came as scientists feverishly analyzed data from NASA's Messenger probe, which has given them some of the best insight into Mercury's composition. The presence of two vastly different types of rock on the planet was a curious discovery, and led the MIT team to create an experiment that would hopefully point to a geographical process responsible for the disparity. Researchers recreated the rocks in a lab and exposed both to a variety of temperatures and pressures. ?You can tell what would happen as the melt cools and crystals form and change the chemical composition of the remaining melted rock," said Timothy Grove, a geology professor at MIT. ?The leftover melt changes composition.? Ultimately Grove and his associates concluded that the two rock compositions couldn't have come from the same region, leaving the so-called "lava ocean" as the only viable explanation. If magma did at one point cover some of Mercury's surface, it was a long time ago. ?The crust is probably more than 4 billion years old, so this magma ocean is a really ancient feature," Grove said. Specifically, he estimates that the ocean would have been flowing sometime within the first one million to 10 million years of Mercury's existence. Source Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
compl3x Posted February 25, 2013 Share Posted February 25, 2013 The floor really is lava! djdanster 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Growled Member Posted February 26, 2013 Member Share Posted February 26, 2013 That was indeed a long time ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dot Matrix Posted February 26, 2013 Share Posted February 26, 2013 Um. That's kinda a given. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noir Angel Posted February 26, 2013 Share Posted February 26, 2013 Given how hot Mercury is that wouldn't really shock me if true. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Gary7 Subscriber² Posted February 26, 2013 Subscriber² Share Posted February 26, 2013 MIT is one of the best of it's kind in the world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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