Microfossils From the Eukaryote Decline From Tonian NeoProterozoic Arizona

Systematics of organic-walled microfossils from the ca. 780–740 Ma Chuar Group, Grand Canyon, Arizona

Authors:

Porter et al

Abstract:

The ca. 780–740 Ma Chuar Group, Grand Canyon, Arizona, provides an exceptional record of life during the diversification of crown-group eukaryotes, just prior to the first Cryogenian glaciation. We document in detail the assemblage of organic-walled microfossils preserved in fine-grained siliciclastics throughout the unit. In contrast with earlier studies, we primarily used SEM to document fossil morphologies, augmented by transmitted light microscopy, FIB-SEM, and TEM. This resulted in the discovery of new species and the recognition of broad-ranging, intraspecific biological and taphonomic variation in other species. Twenty-two species and five unnamed morphotypes are described, including three new species: Kaibabia gemmulella, Microlepidopalla mira, and Volleyballia dehlerae; two new combinations: Galerosphaera walcottii and Lanulatisphaera laufeldii; and 17 previously described forms. The possible colonial green alga Palaeastrum dyptocranum Butterfield in Butterfield, Knoll, and Swett, 1994 and the index fossil Cerebrosphaera globosa (Ogurtsova and Sergeev, 1989) Sergeev and Schopf, 2010 (=C. buickii Butterfield, 1994) are described for the first time from Chuar rocks. Lanulatisphaera laufeldii, a locally abundant and globally widespread species characterized by submicrometer filamentous processes that form a reticulate network, may be a useful marker for the time interval just before the appearance of vase-shaped microfossils (VSMs) ca. 740 Ma.

Organic-walled microfossil assemblages decline in diversity upsection, coincident with the appearance of VSMs and intermittent euxinia within the basin. Whether this pattern is due to preservational bias related to greater water depth or the higher TOC of upper Chuar rocks or instead reflects biotic turnover related to the spread of euxinic water masses in the basin is unknown.

Is Planet Nine a Scattered Giant From the Inner Solar System?

Making Planet Nine: A Scattered Giant in the Outer Solar System

Authors:

Bromley et al

Abstract:

Correlations in the orbits of several minor planets in the outer solar system suggest the presence of a remote, massive Planet Nine. With at least ten times the mass of the Earth and a perihelion well beyond 100 AU, Planet Nine poses a challenge to planet formation theory. Here we expand on a scenario in which the planet formed closer to the Sun and was gravitationally scattered by Jupiter or Saturn onto a very eccentric orbit in an extended gaseous disk. Dynamical friction with the gas then allowed the planet to settle in the outer solar system. We explore this possibility with a set of numerical simulations. Depending on how the gas disk evolves, scattered super-Earths or small gas giants settle on a range of orbits, with perihelion distances as large as 300 AU. Massive disks that clear from the inside out on million-year time scales yield orbits that allow a super-Earth or gas giant to shepherd the minor planets as observed. A massive planet can achieve a similar orbit in a persistent, low-mass disk over the lifetime of the solar system.

Is the Grand Tack Model Compatible with Our Asteroid Belt?

Is the Grand Tack model compatible with the orbital distribution of main belt asteroids?

Authors:

Deienno et al

Abstract:

The Asteroid Belt is characterized by the radial mixing of bodies with different physical properties, a very low mass compared to Minimum Mass Solar Nebula expectations and has an excited orbital distribution, with eccentricities and inclinations covering the entire range of values allowed by the constraints of dynamical stability. Models of the evolution of the Asteroid Belt show that the origin of its structure is strongly linked to the process of terrestrial planet formation. The Grand Tack model presents a possible solution to the conundrum of reconciling the small mass of Mars with the properties of the Asteroid Belt, including the mass depletion, radial mixing and orbital excitation. However, while the inclination distribution produced in the Grand Tack model is in good agreement with the one observed, the eccentricity distribution is skewed towards values larger than those found today. Here, we evaluate the evolution of the orbital properties of the Asteroid Belt from the end of the Grand Tack model (at the end of the gas nebula phase when planets emerge from the dispersing gas disk), throughout the subsequent evolution of the Solar System including an instability of the Giant Planets approximately 400 Myr later. Before the instability, the terrestrial planets were modeled on dynamically cold orbits with Jupiter and Saturn locked in a 3:2 mean motion resonance. The model continues for an additional 4.1 Gyr after the giant planet instability. Our results show that the eccentricity distribution obtained in the Grand Tack model evolves towards one very similar to that currently observed, and the semimajor axis distribution does the same. The inclination distribution remains nearly unchanged with a slight preference for depletion at low inclination; this leads to the conclusion that the inclination distribution at the end of the Grand Tack is a bit over-excited. Also, we constrain the primordial eccentricities of Jupiter and Saturn, which have a major influence on the dynamical evolution of the Asteroid Belt and its final orbital structure.

The Fate of Asteroids in a Migrating Jupiter Scenario

THE EVOLUTION OF ASTEROIDS IN THE JUMPING-JUPITER MIGRATION MODEL

Authors:

Roig et al

Abstract:

In this work, we investigate the evolution of a primordial belt of asteroids, represented by a large number of massless test particles, under the gravitational effect of migrating Jovian planets in the framework of the jumping-Jupiter model. We perform several simulations considering test particles distributed in the Main Belt, as well as in the Hilda and Trojan groups. The simulations start with Jupiter and Saturn locked in the mutual 3:2 mean motion resonance plus three Neptune-mass planets in a compact orbital configuration. Mutual planetary interactions during migration led one of the Neptunes to be ejected in less than 10 Myr of evolution, causing Jupiter to jump by about 0.3 AU in semimajor axis. This introduces a large-scale instability in the studied populations of small bodies. After the migration phase, the simulations are extended over 4 Gyr, and we compare the final orbital structure of the simulated test particles to the current Main Belt of asteroids with absolute magnitude H less than 9.7. The results indicate that, in order to reproduce the present Main Belt, the primordial belt should have had a distribution peaked at ~10° in inclination and at ~0.1 in eccentricity. We discuss the implications of this for the Grand Tack model. The results also indicate that neither primordial Hildas, nor Trojans, survive the instability, confirming the idea that such populations must have been implanted from other sources. In particular, we address the possibility of implantation of Hildas and Trojans from the Main Belt population, but find that this contribution should be minor.

Could Jupiter or Saturn Have Ejected a Fifth Giant Planet?

Could Jupiter or Saturn Have Ejected a Fifth Giant Planet?

Authors:

Cloutier et al

Abstract:

Models of the dynamical evolution of the early solar system following the dispersal of the gaseous protoplanetary disk have been widely successful in reconstructing the current orbital configuration of the giant planets. Statistically, some of the most successful dynamical evolution simulations have initially included a hypothetical fifth giant planet, of ice giant mass, which gets ejected by a gas giant during the early solar system's proposed instability phase. We investigate the likelihood of an ice giant ejection event by either Jupiter or Saturn through constraints imposed by the current orbits of their wide-separation regular satellites Callisto and Iapetus respectively. We show that planetary encounters that are sufficient to eject an ice giant, often provide excessive perturbations to the orbits of Callisto and Iapetus making it difficult to reconcile a planet ejection event with the current orbit of either satellite. Quantitatively, we compute the likelihood of reconciling a regular Jovian satellite orbit with the current orbit of Callisto following an ice giant ejection by Jupiter of ~ 42% and conclude that such a large likelihood supports the hypothesis of a fifth giant planet's existence. A similar calculation for Iapetus reveals that it is much more difficult for Saturn to have ejected an ice giant and reconcile a Kronian satellite orbit with that of Iapetus (likelihood ~ 1%), although uncertainties regarding the formation of Iapetus, on its unusual orbit, complicates the interpretation of this result.