What mechanism related to rapid formation could potentially explain Mercury retaining volatiles near the Sun, according to formation implications?
Answer
Very rapid accretion, preventing volatiles from escaping the gravitational pull before burial.
One of the mechanisms proposed to resolve the volatile paradox is very rapid accretion. If Mercury built up its mass extremely quickly, the gravitational field would strengthen sufficiently to hold onto volatile elements before they had time to fully vaporize or escape the planet's atmosphere or surface layers. This speed of assembly essentially allows the planet to bury its original, volatile-rich composition beneath new layers before solar heating can completely strip those elements away, thus preserving a significant volatile budget within the planet's structure.
Related Questions
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