Earth and Planetary Interiors

Recommended Prerequisites

Training in geophysics, geochemistry and/or mechanics, mathematical physics. Understanding of English.

Teaching Methods

The teaching will be based on exposing the matters in the classic sense, using in specific cases a learning method focused on the student, solving of classic problems, discussion of  research problems in the tutorials. Students will also be asked to study key recent articles. Seminars will allow them to present their analysis and discuss those of their peers.   

Learning Outcomes

- Translate geophysical and geochemical observables in terms of thermal structure, composition and mechanical properties.

- Integrate the physico-chemical mechanisms governing the dynamics of planetary interiors and their thermal evolution.

- Understand the physico-chemical couplings between the main constituent domains of planetary interiors.

- Relate the diversity of planetary evolutions with their internal structure.

- To appropriate the state of the art in studies on the structure and evolution of planetary interiors.

- Acquire a critical mind on the subject.

- Know how to synthesize one's own knowledge in English, both written and oral.

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

The course will quantitatively address the following major topics:

 - The descriptive parameters of planetary internal structures

- The knowledge and the interrogations brought by  terrestrial observations and space missions (orbital probes and landers)

- Contributions and feasibility of different geophysical methods in planetology

- Comparative structures and evolutions of the solid bodies of the solar system

- Extrapolation to exoplanets 

Assessment Methods

Assessment
Exam: 50.0%
Synthesis work: 50.0%

Bibliography

The students will be provided a free access to the main journals of the discipline, e.g., Astronomy and Astrophysics, Icarus, Journal of Geophysical Research (Solid Earth, Planets), Geophysical Research Letters, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Nature (Geoscience, Astronomy), Science, ...