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= GEO604: Water & Planetary Habitability

*Semester*: Fall 2026 · *Credits*: 3 · *Location \& Time*: TBD\n
*Instructor*: [https://www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/geosciences/people/_faculty/dong Junjie Dong] · *Email*: [mailto:junjie.dong@stonybrook.edu junjie.dong@stonybrook.edu] · *Office Hours*: By appointment

== Description
Water is inseparable from life as we know it and from the physical, chemical, and dynamical processes that link planetary interiors, surfaces, atmospheres, and orbits. This seminar surveys the role of water in planetary habitability, drawing on geophysical, geochemical, atmospheric, and planetary science literature. Topics include the origin and evolution of water on Earth; its coupling to climate, tides, and interior convection; divergent outcomes on Venus and Mars; and subsurface oceans on icy moons and water-covered exoplanets. The aim is to understand, and perhaps to provoke new ways of thinking about, how water enables, mediates, and sometimes limits planetary habitability.

== Assessment

*Paper Discussion (formative, 100\%)*: One student leads each week: chooses 2--3 papers, writes 4 prompts or questions per paper, and posts them to the course site by Friday. Everyone comes having responded in writing to at least 2 prompts per paper. In class: share responses, discuss, push back, and build on each other's ideas. By end of day on the day of class: submit final written responses to all prompts or questions (2–3 sentences each), plus any questions the reading or discussion left open. Discussion leaders meet briefly with the instructor beforehand to select papers.

== Schedule

~~~
{}{table}{schedule}
Week | Topic | Suggested Papers ||
1 | Orientation: Life With Water | --- ||
2 | Habitability: A Conceptual History  | Cockell et al (2016)\nApai et al (2025) ||
3 | The Origin of Water on Earth | TBD ||
4 | Water and the Deep Interior | van Thienen et al. (2007)\nKorenaga et al. (2017)\nDong et al (2021) ||
5 | Water and Plate Tectonics | TBD ||
6 | Snowball Earth and Climate Extremes | TBD ||
7 | Mars: A Wet Past? | Vertesi (2015), Introduction from /See Like A Rover/\nMcMahon et al. (2018)\nCitron et al. (2018)\nWang and Huang (2024)||
8 | Venus: A Failed Earth? | Way and Del Genio (2020)\nKrissansen-Totton et al. (2021)\nSalvador et al. (2023) ||
9 | Icy Moons and Hidden Oceans | Horneck et al. (2016)\nPappalardo et al. (2024)\nNimmo (2025) ||
10 | Exoplanets and the Limits of Habitability | Schneider et al. (2015)\nMadhusudhan et al. (2016)\nCatling et al. (2018)||
11 | The Physics and Chemistry of Water | TBD ||
12 | Water and the Emergence of Life | TBD ||
13 | Synthesis: Life Without/Beyond Water | ---
~~~

== Policies
. Attendance and completion of readings before each class are expected.
. Late work is handled individually; please reach out before the deadline.
. We follow the [https://www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/studentaffairs/sccs/conduct.php Code of Student Responsibility]; additional expectations will be discussed and established together in the first class.
. We follow the University's [https://www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/academic_integrity/policies_procedures/index.php Academic Integrity Policy], (including on [https://www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/academic_integrity/generative-ai/index.php?accordion=content-d19e272 Generative AI and LLMs]); any use must be disclosed.

== References
. Vulpius, S., Runge, E., Herwartz, D., Pack, A., Brachmann, C., Noack, L. (2026). Formation and redox evolution of Earth’s early atmosphere and hydrosphere. /Nature Reviews Earth \& Environment/ \[[https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-026-00803-0 DOI]\]
. Zaki, A.S., Lamb, M.P. (2026). Identifying the topographic signature of early Martian oceans. /Nature/, 652, 878--885. \[[https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10381-2 DOI]\]
. Li, J., Liu, H., Meng, X., Duan, D., Lu, H., Zhang, J., Zhang, F., Elsworth, D., Cardenas, B.T., Manga, M., Zhou, B., Fang, G. (2025). Ancient ocean coastal deposits imaged on Mars. /Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences/, 122, e2422213122. \[[https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2422213122 DOI]\]
. Wang, L., Huang, J. (2024). Hypothesis of an ancient northern ocean on Mars and insights from the Zhurong rover. /Nature Astronomy/, 8, 1220--1229. \[[https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-024-02343-3 DOI]\]
. Sholes, S.F., Rivera-Hernández, F. (2022). Constraints on the uncertainty, timing, and magnitude of potential Mars oceans from topographic deformation models. /Icarus/, 378, 114934. \[[https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2022.114934 DOI]\]
. Korenaga, J. (2021). Was There Land on the Early Earth?. /Life/, 11, 1142. \[[https://doi.org/10.3390/life11111142 DOI]\]
. Krissansen-Totton, J., Fortney, J.J., Nimmo, F. (2021). Was Venus Ever Habitable? Constraints from a Coupled Interior–Atmosphere–Redox Evolution Model. /The Planetary Science Journal/, 2, 216. \[[https://doi.org/10.3847/PSJ/ac2580 DOI]\]
. Turbet, M., Bolmont, E., Chaverot, G., Ehrenreich, D., Leconte, J., Marcq, E. (2021). Day–night cloud asymmetry prevents early oceans on Venus but not on Earth. /Nature/, 598, 276--280. \[[https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03873-w DOI]\]
. Sholes, S.F., Dickeson, Z.I., Montgomery, D.R., Catling, D.C. (2021). Where are Mars’ Hypothesized Ocean Shorelines? Large Lateral and Topographic Offsets Between Different Versions of Paleoshoreline Maps. /Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets/, 126, e2020JE006486. \[[https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JE006486 DOI]\]
. Kite, E.S., Ford, E.B. (2018). Habitability of Exoplanet Waterworlds. /The Astrophysical Journal/, 864, 75. \[[https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aad6e0 DOI]\]
. Citron, R.I., Manga, M., Hemingway, D.J. (2018). Timing of oceans on Mars from shoreline deformation. /Nature/, 555, 643--646. \[[https://doi.org/10.1038/nature26144 DOI]\]
. Cockell, C., Bush, T., Bryce, C., Direito, S., Fox-Powell, M., Harrison, J., Lammer, H., Landenmark, H., Martin-Torres, J., Nicholson, N., Noack, L., O'Malley-James, J., Payler, S., Rushby, A., Samuels, T., Schwendner, P., Wadsworth, J., Zorzano, M. (2016). Habitability: A Review. /Astrobiology/, 16, 89--117. \[[https://doi.org/10.1089/ast.2015.1295 DOI]\]
. Seager, S. (2013). Exoplanet Habitability. /Science/, 340, 577--581. \[[https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1232226 DOI]\]
. Abe, Y., Abe-Ouchi, A., Sleep, N.H., Zahnle, K.J. (2011). Habitable Zone Limits for Dry Planets. /Astrobiology/, 11, 443--460. \[[https://doi.org/10.1089/ast.2010.0545 DOI]\]
. Crowe, M.J. (2008). The Extraterrestrial Life Debate - Antiquity to 1915: A Source Book. //
. Dole, S.H. (2007). Habitable Planets for Man. // \[[https://doi.org/10.7249/CB179-1 DOI]\]
. Stevenson, D.J. (2004). Planetary Diversity. /Physics Today/, 57, 43--48. \[[https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1752421 DOI]\]
. Carr, M.H. (1996). Water On Mars. // \[[https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780195099386.001.0001 DOI]\]
. Dick, S.J. (1996). The Biological Universe: The Twentieth Century Extraterrestrial Life Debate and the Limits of Science. //
. Dick, S.J. (1984). Plurality of Worlds: The Extraterrestrial Life Debate from Democritus to Kant. //
. Hart, M.H. (1978). The evolution of the atmosphere of the earth. /Icarus/, 33, 23--39. \[[https://doi.org/10.1016/0019-1035(78)90021-0 DOI]\]
. Dole, S.H., Asimov, I. (1964). Planets for Man. // \[[https://www.rand.org/pubs/commercial_books/CB183-1.html Link]\]
. Huang, S. (1960). The Sizes of Habitable Planets. /Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific/, 72, 489. \[[https://doi.org/10.1086/127586 DOI]\]
. Lowell, P. (1908). Mars as the Abode of Life. // \[[https://www.loc.gov/item/08036795/ Link]\]