Geology
I am implementing a Phase 1 Investigation to determine the fundamental geology and geophysics of the planet in question. I will describe the critical features and characteristic ranges of the planet. I will also try to ascertain the feasibility of life and the history of this planet. To be successful on our mission, my team and I must study the whole of the planets with an emphasis on comparison and contrast. I plan to use Earth as the basis of our investigation proposal because I know Earth best and also because it is a planet of extremes. It has a crust that is very active as well as an atmosphere filled with water.
Earth is a terrestrial planet and as such has gone through differentiation, cratering, flooding by lava and water, and also has undergone surface evolutions. Differentiation is the separation of planetary material by density. I know Earth differentiated because seismic waves have revealed a core of metals (nickel and iron), a thick mantle of dense rock, and a think crust of low density. (The lithosphere and "plastic" asthenosphere). The core is molten except for the...
The crust undergoes transformation, convergence, and separation. Mid ocean rifts create new rock by allowing lava to seep out. Old crust burrows into the deep trenches of some continents where it is remelted, thus causing volcanoes and earthquakes that recycle the Earth's crust. This is why we rarely see impact craters on Earth and so many on the moon. The moon is inactive and also has no atmosphere to mitigate the damage caused by any meteors, especially those that weigh over 350 tons.
The atmosphere of the planet will give us much information. Based on Earth's situation, we know that atmosphere is developed by gases and ices that were trapped in the pulled planetesimals that helped construct Earth. Volcanism has outgassed what used to be a set of other gases and oxygen has been added by plant life. Lowland regions must once…
