18.07.2012

The Geology of the Terrestrial Planets: Perspectives on the Earth


The dynamic nature of the Earth (erosion and plate tectonics) has largely destroyed the record of the formative years of our own Home Planet. Revealed on the other Earth-like planetary bodies (Moon, Mercury, Mars, and Venus) are startling and diverse landscapes recording the geological record of this early history, the very chapters that are missing from Earth. Results from the first half-century of solar system exploration have unveiled a vision of our formative years, where we have been, and indeed, where we may be going in the future.

Jim Head, Planetary Geosciences Department, Brown University



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