News Astronomy

Super-Earths are not a good place for plate tectonics

Large planets have stiff outer shells, simulations suggest

Kepler-62f

JUMBO-SIZE PLANET  Big rocky super-Earths such as Kepler-62f, shown in this illustration, probably don’t have active plate tectonics, new research suggests. 

JPL-Caltech, Ames/NASA  

By Thomas Sumner

- More than 2 years ago

Plate tectonics doesn’t rumple the surfaces of Earth’s supersized cousins, new research suggests.

Simulating the extreme pressures inside giant exoplanets called super-Earths, researchers discovered that these planets probably have thick, stagnant outer shells and sluggish internal circulation.