Piezonuclear Fission Reactions Triggered by Fracture and Turbulence in the Rocky and Gaseous Planets of the Solar System

Abstract

Evidences from the planets of the Solar System are presented and interpreted in the light of piezonuclear fission reactions. In particular, results coming from different investigations are reported for the crust of Mars. They were made available by NASA space missions during the last 15 years. The concentration increment in certain elements (Fe, Cl, and Ar) and the corresponding decrement in others (Ni and K), together with neutron emissions at Mars largest faults, should be considered as directly correlated phenomena. The findings presented provide a clear evidence of how seismic activity has contributed to the Red Planet’s compositional evolution. Analogous evidences regard Mercury, Jupiter, and the Sun itself. The major compositional variations are interpreted according to piezonuclear fission reactions triggered by earthquakes in rocky planets and by storms in gaseous planets as well as in our star. These conjectures, which were originated from the analysis of geological and geophysical evolution of the Earth’s crust, are based on recent evidence of neutron and alpha particle emissions during brittle fracture experiments carried out on inert non-radioactive rocks (granite, basalt, magnetite, marble).