Lunar Heating: How Tides Prolonged Earth's Magma Ocean ⚡ экспресс
After the Moon's formation, Earth had a global magma ocean and a dense atmosphere rich in volatiles. The study is the first to examine in detail the feedback between tidal heating caused by the orbital interaction of Earth and the Moon, and the variable redox conditions in the interior. Using PROTEUS simulations for different densities of tidal power, oxygen fugacity, and volatile inventories, it was shown that the lifetime of the magma ocean varies from ~30 to ~500 million years depending on the redox state. Epochs of global radiative equilibrium (balance between outgoing radiation and internal heat) occur regularly, last from ~2 to ~320 million years, and typically begin 24 million years after the impact. Under oxidizing conditions, late release of H₂O sustains melt and heating via the greenhouse effect. Weak tides increase the content of H₂S and NH₃, decreasing CO, which creates a disequilibrium chemical composition of the magma ocean atmosphere.
After the Moon's birth, Earth resembled a sizzling lump of dough: a continuous liquid magma and a dense shroud of gases. The Moon acted like a giant spoon, constantly kneading this lump with its gravity. Friction generated heat, delaying cooling. Scientists calculated: depending on tidal strength and oxygen content inside, the ocean of molten rock lasted from 30 to 500 million years. When oxygen was scarce, carbon turned into carbon monoxide. With an excess, water vapor enveloped the planet like a kitchen towel, holding in the heat. Weak tides added gases rich in hydrogen—ammonia and hydrogen sulfide. Eventually, Earth, like dough on a table, reached equilibrium: as much energy came in as went out. Such periods lasted up to 320 million years. If tidal friction had been weaker, the ocean would have solidified in 30 million years, and solid crust would have appeared half a billion years earlier—this could have changed the planet's entire history.
🎯 Earth's magma ocean existed longer than the time from the first dinosaurs to today—nearly half a billion years.