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Why is the areoid like the residual geoid?
Author(s) -
Burke Kevin,
Werner Stephanie C.,
Steinberger Bernhard,
Torsvik Trond H.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2012gl052701
Subject(s) - geoid , mars exploration program , geology , equipotential surface , geophysics , mantle (geology) , residual , geodesy , astrobiology , physics , quantum mechanics , algorithm , computer science , measured depth
The equipotential figures of Earth (residual geoid), and of Mars (areoid) are characterized by pairs of elevated and pairs of depressed antipodal equatorial regions. Elevated regions of the residual geoid lie vertically above the two Large Low Shear Wave Velocity Provinces (LLSVPs) on the Core Mantle Boundary (CMB). There is evidence that the LLSVPs are dense, physicochemically distinct, and have been stable in their positions with respect to each other and to the Earth's spin axis for at least ∼550 My. The final event in the planetary‐scale development of the Earth's structure was the moon‐forming event and the comparable event on Mars is thought by many to have been the Borealis basin‐forming impact. We attribute the formation of the LLSVPs and postulated comparable masses underlying the elevated regions of the areoid on the CMB of Mars, to the immediate after‐effects of those two giant impacts.