Review Lecture: The dynamical properties and internal structures of the Earth, the Moon and the planets

Abstract

The aim of this review is to bring together and relate recent progress in three subjects - the internal structure of the Earth, the behaviour of materials at very high pressures and the dynamical properties of the planets. Knowledge of the internal structure of the Earth has been advanced in recent years, particularly by observations of free oscillations of the whole Earth excited by the very largest earthquakes; as a consequence, it is clear that K. E. Bullen’s hypothesis that bulk modulus is a smooth function of pressure irrespective of composition is close to the truth for the Earth. Understanding of the behaviour of materials at very high pressure has increased as a result both of experiments on the propagation of shock waves and of theoretical investigations along a number of lines and it can now be seen that Bullen’s hypothesis is not true irrespective of chemical composition and crystal structure but that it happens to apply to the Earth because of particular circumstances. Studies of the orbits of artificial satellites and space probes have led to better knowledge of the dynamics of the Moon, Mars and Venus, and there have also been recent improvements in the traditional studies of Uranus and Neptune. Our knowledge of the dynamics of the planets is on the whole rather restricted, and Bullen’s hypothesis only applies directly to the Moon (for which the application is trivial) and possibly to Mars; the dynamical properties do none the less set fairly restrictive limits to the models that can be constructed for other planets. It would be possible for all planets to have cores of similar composition to the Earth ’s, surrounded by mantles of different sorts, silicates for the terrestrial planets and mostly hydrogen for Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.