What makes a planet habitable?
GEOS 22060 / GEOS 32060 / ASTR 45900


Class: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9:30am-10:50am. Hinds 180.
Office hours: Thursdays, 11am-noon. Hinds 467.
Note that there will be no office hours on Thursday 12 April. Extra office hours on Tuesday 17 April, noon-1pm.

Lecture 1 (3 Apr) - Introduction; Earth history.

Lecture 1 slides.

Required reading (paper in italics will be summarized at the start of the Tue 10 lecture):
Sections 1-3 of Knoll et al. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society 2016.
Section 3 of Carter Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society 1983.
Sections 1.1.1-1.1.2.2 and 1.1.2.6-1.1.2.6 of Catling and Kasting, chapter 1.
Sections 1, 2.1, 3, and 6 of Olson et al. 2018.

Optional reading: National Research Council "Weird Life Report 2007".

Lecture 2 (5 Apr) - From Earth history to the circumstellar habitable zone.

Lecture 2 slides.

Required reading (paper in italics will be summarized at the start of the Tue 17 lecture):
Sections 3.1-3.6 of Kasting & Catling Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics 2003.

Optional reading: p.141-146 from Monod 1970. (note that Monod's specific concerns were mitigated by the RNA-world hypothesis).

Lecture 3 (6 Apr) MAKE-UP LECTURE, SPECIAL TIME OF 8a-9a - The circumstellar habitable zone continued.

Lecture 3 slides.

Required reading: No additional required reading.

Optional reading: Part of Langmuir and Broecker, chapter 16. Carbon isotopes essentials.

Very optional reading for those interested in haze: Lorenz et al. Science 1997. Hypothetical climate catastrophe on Saturn's moon Titan.

Lecture 4 (10 Apr) MAKE-UP LECTURE, SPECIAL TIME OF 8a-9a - Atmospheric science essentials: greenhouse effect.

Lecture 5 (also 10 Apr) usual time 9:30a-10:50a - Volatile delivery to habitable zone planets.

Lecture 4/5 slides.

Required reading (paper in italics will be summarized at the start of the Thu 19 lecture):
Section 7 from Morbidelli et al. 2012. (presenters should also summarize sections 2-4)
p. 251-257 from Langmuir_and_Broecker, chapter 9.
"Supply of Water on Earth" passages from Genda 2016.
Sections 1-2 from Forget and Leconte 2014.

Optional reading:
Dauphas and Morbidelli 2014.

Homework 1 issued (due in my mailbox in Hinds, Wed 18 April - later due date is to allow for extra office hours).

Lecture 6 (17 Apr) - Volatile loss.

Lecture 6 slides.

Required reading (paper in italics will be summarized at the start of the Tue 24 lecture):
All of Watson et al. 1981.
Section 5 (but not 5.2.1 or 5.2.2) from Zahnle et al. 2007.
Sections 1 and 2.1 from Zahnle and Catling 2017.
Suggested reading, as an "on-ramp" to the required reading: Catling and Zahnle 2009.

Homework 2 issued (due in class Tue 24 April).

Lecture 7 (19 Apr) - Volatile loss, continued.

Lecture 7 slides.

Required reading (paper in italics will be summarized by students):
Introductory page, 5.2.-5.5, and 5.10.1-5.10.3 from Catling and Kasting ch. 5.
Appendix A from Lehmer et al. 2017 (note that presenters are expected to summarize the whole paper, not just Appendix A).

Lecture 8 (24 Apr) - Volatile loss, concluded.

Lecture 8 slides.

Required reading (paper in italics will be summarized by students):
Sections 3 and 4 from Schlichting and Mukhopadhyay 2018.
Sections 6.6.2 and 6.7 from Catling and Kasting ch. 6.
All of Stewart et al. LPSC 2014.

Optional reading:
Owen and Wu 2017.

Homework 3 issued (due in class Tue 1 May).


Lecture 9 (26 Apr) - Runaway greenhouse and the fate of Venus.

Lecture 9 slides.

Required reading:
Section 2 of Goldblatt and Watson 2012.

Suggested reading (italicized text to be summarized by students):
Yang et al. 2013.
Hamano et al. 2013.
Pierrehumbert on the gray-gas runaway greenhouse.


Lecture 10 (1 May) - Outer limits of the habitable zone.

Lecture 10 slides.

Required reading:
Sections 3 and 6 of Pierrehumbert et al. 2011.

Optional reading:
Roe and Baker 2010.
Wordsworth and Pierrehumbert et al. 2013.

Homework 4 issued (due in class Tue 8 May).

Lecture 11 (3 May) - Long-term climate stability.

Lecture 11 slides.

Required reading:
Main text of Maher and Chamberlin 2014.

Optional reading:
Supplementary Information of Maher and Chamberlin 2014.
Maher 2010.


Lecture 12 (8 May) - Long-term climate stability, continued.

Lecture 12 slides.

Required reading: None, read the Maher and Chamberlin paper from the previous lecture.

Optional reading:
West et al. 2005.
Caldeira and Kasting 1992.
Edmond and Huh 2003.


Lecture 13 (10 May) - Hyperthermals on Earth.

Lecture 13 slides.

Encouraged reading:
Neither the long duration, nor the abrupt end of the PETM are understood. These papers advocate for possible mechanisms to explain these two observations.
Bowen et al. 2013.
Frieling et al. 2016.



Lecture 14 (15 May) - Nutrient supply.

Lecture 14 slides.

Required reading:
All of section 11.2.2 from Beerling and Butterfield chapter from Fundamentals of Geobiology.
Sections 2.3.2, 2.3.3, 2.4, and 2.7 from Falkowski chapter from Fundamentals of Geobiology.


Optional reading:
Rothman 2017.
Rothman 2003.
Wallman and Aloisi 2012.
Planavsky 2014.


Homework 5 issued (due in class Tue 22 May).


Lecture 15 (17 May) - Climate stabilization on Early Mars.

Lecture 15 slides.

Required reading:
Hynek 2016.

Suggested reading:
Haberle et al. 2018.


Lecture 16 (22 May) - Climate stabilization on Mars, continued.

Lecture 16 slides.

Homework 6 issued (due in class Tue 29 May).

Lecture 17 (24 May) - Ice-covered oceans.

Lecture 17 slides.

Suggested Reading:
Spencer and Nimmo 2014.
Glein et al. accepted.

Lecture 18 (29 May) - Exoplanet habitability.

Lecture 18 slides.

Required Reading:
sections 15.1 and 15.3 of Catling and Kasting ch. 15.


Papers for student presenters:
Grotzinger et al. Science 2014.
Ramirez and Kasting Icarus 2016.
Chyba and Phillips 2000.
Turbet et al. 2017.