Impact-driven atmospheric loss from terrestrial planets

Determining how terrestrial planets accrete and retain volatile elements is fundamental for understanding planetary diversity, evolution, and habitability. One mechanism that could play an important role in determining planetary volatile budgets is the loss of existing atmospheres (and potentially oceans) driven by impacts. I will demonstrate how the pre-impact surface conditions and distribution of volatiles on colliding bodies can dictate the efficiency by which different volatiles are lost in impact events. In particular, I will show that planets that experience more giant impacts later in accretion are much more suspectable to atmospheric loss.