Intense magnetic field generation by solidification and crustal delamination

Abstract:

Recent paleomagnetic measurements of meteorites suggest that asteroidal magnetic fields are a common feature of the early solar system [1,2]. The iron cores of different asteroids may solidify in different ways [3]. For the IVA iron meteorite parent body the rapid cooling rates and correlation with Ni concentrations further suggest that their parent body was entirely metal, and that solidification of their parent asteroid proceeded from the top down. Here we present model constraints on the thermo-chemical evolution of such rapidly cooled iron asteroids. We show that the temperature of the liquid is rapidly well mixed, and equal to the composition-dependent freezing point, and that thermal convection contributes only at early times to generation of intense magnetic fields and is therefore not sufficient to explain the generation of a dynamo. Instead, we propose that viscous delamination [4] at the base of the solidifying, dense crust provides a sufficient buoyancy flux to generate a magnetic field with properties consistent with those inferred from paleomagnetic measurements of the two IVA meteorites [5]. A model that captures the aggregate effect of episodic delamination events predicts the evolution of the crust and the formation and growth of the asteroid core, the intensity and directional evolution of the magnetic field through time, and the times at which magnetic field generation ceases and total asteroid solidification occur. These predictions can be compared directly with recent measurements of IVA iron meteorites [5] with implications for top-down solidification, the solid structure of the IVA parent core, and magnetic field generation both on the IVA parent body, and wider implications for top-down core solidification generally.

[1] Weiss et al. Space Sci. Rev. 152, 341-390 (2010).

[2] Tarduno et al. Science. 338, 939-942 (2012).

[3] Williams Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 284, 564-569 (2009)

[4] Molnar et al. Geophys. J. Int. 133, 568-584 (1998)

[5] Bryson et al., this meeting