Long-term Earth-Moon evolution with high-level orbit and ocean tide models

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  • Hoorah Daher
    University of Michigan
  • B.K. Arbic
    University of Michigan
  • J. G. Williams
    The California Institute of Technology
  • J. K. Ansong
    University of Michigan
  • D. H. Boggs
    The California Institute of Technology
  • Malte Müller
    Norwegian Meteorological Institute, Oslo
  • Michael Schindelegger
    Universitat Bonn
  • A. J. Adcroft
  • J. Austermann
    Harvard University
  • B. D. Cornuelle
    University of California, La Jolla
  • E. B. Crawford
    University of Michigan
  • O. B. Fringer
    Stanford University
  • Harriet Lau
    Harvard University
  • S. J. Lock
    The California Institute of Technology
  • A. C. Maloof
    Princeton University
  • D. Menemenlis
    The California Institute of Technology
  • J. X. Mitrovica
    Harvard University
  • Mattias Green
  • Matthew Huber
    Purdue University
Tides and Earth-Moon system evolution are coupled over geological time. Tidal energy dissipation on Earth slows urn:x-wiley:21699097:media:jgre21740:jgre21740-math-0001s rotation rate, increases obliquity, lunar orbit semi-major axis and eccentricity, and decreases lunar inclination. Tidal and core-mantle boundary dissipation within the Moon decrease inclination, eccentricity and semi-major axis. Here we integrate the Earth-Moon system backwards for 4.5 Ga with orbital dynamics and explicit ocean tide models that are “high-level” (i.e., not idealized). To account for uncertain plate tectonic histories, we employ Monte Carlo simulations, with tidal energy dissipation rates (normalized relative to astronomical forcing parameters) randomly selected from ocean tide simulations with modern ocean basin geometry and with 55, 116, and 252 Ma reconstructed basin paleogeometries. The normalized dissipation rates depend upon basin geometry and urn:x-wiley:21699097:media:jgre21740:jgre21740-math-0002s rotation rate. Faster Earth rotation generally yields lower normalized dissipation rates. The Monte Carlo results provide a spread of possible early values for the Earth-Moon system parameters. Of consequence for ocean circulation and climate, absolute (un-normalized) ocean tidal energy dissipation rates on the early Earth may have exceeded urn:x-wiley:21699097:media:jgre21740:jgre21740-math-0003s rate due to a closer Moon. Prior to urn:x-wiley:21699097:media:jgre21740:jgre21740-math-00043 Ga, evolution of inclination and eccentricity is dominated by tidal and core-mantle boundary dissipation within the Moon, which yield high lunar orbit inclinations in the early Earth-Moon system. A drawback for our results is that the semi-major axis does not collapse to near-zero values at 4.5 Ga, as indicated by most lunar formation models. Additional processes, missing from our current efforts, are discussed as topics for future investigation.
Original languageEnglish
Article numbere2021JE006875
JournalJournal of Geophysical Research: Planets
Volume126
Issue number12
Early online date23 Sept 2021
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2021

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