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1.
Liquid metal-liquid silicate partitioning of Fe, Ni, Co, P, Ge, W and Mo among a carbon-saturated metal and a variety of silicate melts (magnesian-tholeiitic-siliceous-aluminous-aluminosiliceous basalts) depends modestly to strongly upon silicate melt structure and composition. Low valency siderophile elements, Fe, Ni and Co, show a modest influence of silicate melt composition on partitioning. Germanium shows a moderate but consistent preference for the depolymerized magnesian melt. High valency siderophile elements, P, Mo, and W, show more than an order of magnitude decrease in metal-silicate partition coefficients as the silicate melt becomes more depolymerized. Detailed inspection of our and other published W data shows that polymerization state, temperature and pressure are more important controls on W partitioning than oxidation state. For this to be true for a high and variable valence element implies a secondary role in general for oxidation state, even though some role must be present. Equilibrium core segregation through a magma ocean of ‘ultrabasic’ composition can provide a resolution to the ‘excess’ abundances of Ge, P, W and Mo in the mantle, but the mantle composition alone cannot explain the excess abundances of nickel and cobalt in chondritic proportions.  相似文献   

2.
Abstract Melting experiments have been carried out on an olivine andesite of Mt Yakushi-Yama from the Miocene Setouchi volcanic belt in northeastern Shikoku, Japan. This andesite has been characterized by a low ratio of FeO*/Mg° (= 0.78). Phase relations have been determined within the pressure range of 2.8 to 19.3 kbar at 1000-1300°C under anhydrous and water-saturated conditions. At pressures less than 8.8 kbar, olivine is a liquidus phase. Orthopyroxene appears on the liquidus at 9.3 kbar under the anhydrous conditions. The multiple saturation point rises up to 17.5 kbar for water-saturated experiments. The andesite melt coexists with olivine and orthopyroxene just below the liquidus at 8.8–9.3 kbar and 1230°C for dry conditions, and at 17.5 kbar and 1060°C under water-saturated conditions. These experimental results indicate that the Yakushi-Yama olivine andesite magma could coexist with a harzburgitic mantle at depths between about 30 and 60 km, and at temperatures between 1060 and 1230°C. Experimental data also suggest a possibility that a high magnesian andesite magma would be generated by a direct partial melting of the uppermost harzburgitic mantle under anhydrous conditions.  相似文献   

3.
Nickel partitioning between forsterite and aluminosilicate melt of fixed bulk composition has been determined at 1300°C to 20 kbar pressure. The value of the forsterite-liquid nickel partition coefficient is lowered from >20 at pressures equal to or less than 15 kbar to <10 at pressures above 15 kbar.Published data indicate that melts on the join Na2O-Al2O3-SiO2 become depolymerized in the pressure range 10–20 kbar as a result of Al shifting from four-coordination at low pressure to higher coordination as the pressure is increased. This coordination shift results in a decreasing number of bridging oxygens in the melt. It is suggested that the activity coefficient of nickel decreases with this decrease in the number of bridging oxygens. As a result, the nickel partition coefficient for olivine and liquid is lowered.Magma genesis in the upper mantle occurs in the pressure range where the suggested change in aluminum coordination occurs in silicate melts. It is suggested, therefore, that data on nickel partitioning obtained at low pressure are not applicable to calculation of the nickel distribution between crystals and melts during partial melting in the upper mantle. Application of high-pressure experimental data determined here for Al-rich melts to the partial melting process indicates that the melts would contain about twice as much nickel as indicated by the data for the low-pressure experiments. If, as suggested here, the polymerization with pressure is related to the Al content of the melt, the difference in the crystal-liquid partition coefficient for nickel at low and high pressure is reduced with decreasing Al content of the melt. Consequently, the change ofDNiol-andesite melt is greater than that ofDNiol-basalt melt, for example.  相似文献   

4.
Melting relations of a glassy magnesian olivine tholeiite from the FAMOUS area have been studied within the pressure range 1 atm to 15 kbar. From 1 atm to 10 kbar, olivine is the liquidus phase, followed by plagioclase and Ca-rich clinopyroxene. Above 10 kbar, Ca-rich clinopyroxene appears on the liquidus, followed by orthopyroxene and spinel. Near 10 kbar, olivine, orthopyroxene, clinopyroxene, spinel and plagioclase crystallize within 10°C of the liquidus. This indicates that a liquid of this magnesian olivine tholeiite composition could coexist with mantle peridotite at about 10 kbar. This result is in agreement with the geochemistry of Ni; the Ni concentration of the studied sample corresponds to the theoretical concentration in a primary magma [14,15].These data suggest that at least some magnesian mid-oceanic ridge basalts (MORBs) could be primary melts segregated from the mantle at depths near the transition zone between plagioclase lherzolite and spinel lherzolite (about 10 kbar). Based on this model, the residual mantle after extraction of MORBs should be lherzolite, not harzburgite.High-pressure (7–10 kbar) fractionation models involving olivine, plagioclase and clinopyroxene, which have been proposed by several workers (e.g. [36]) to explain the varieties of MORBs, were re-emphasized based on this melting study. The rare occurrence of clinopyroxene as a phenocryst phase in MORBs is explained by precipitation in a magma chamber at high pressure, or by dissolution of clinopyroxene formed earlier at high pressure.  相似文献   

5.
Sung Hi  Choi  Sung-Tack  Kwon 《Island Arc》2005,14(3):236-253
Abstract   The mantle-derived xenoliths entrained in the Pliocene basanite from Baengnyeong Island, South Korea, are spinel lherzolites and spinel harzburgites. The overall compositional range of the Baengnyeong xenoliths matches that of the post-Archean xenoliths of lithospheric mantle origin from eastern China, but without any compositional evidence for a refractory Archean mantle root. Mineral compositions of the xenoliths have been used to estimate the equilibrium temperatures and pressures, and to construct a paleogeothermal gradient of the source region. The xenolith-derived paleogeotherm is constrained from about 820°C at 7.3 kbar to 1000°C at 20.6 kbar. Like those from the post-Archean Chinese xenoliths of lithospheric mantle origin, the Baengnyeong geotherm is considerably elevated relative to the conductive models at the depth of the crust–mantle boundary, reflecting a thermal perturbation probably related to lithospheric thinning. There is no significant P / T difference between harzburgite and lherzolite, which suggests that the harzburgites are interlayered with lherzolites within the depth interval beneath Baengnyeong Island.  相似文献   

6.
Abstract Ultramafic xenoliths found in alkali basalts from Jeju Island, Korea are mostly spinel lherzolites accompanied by subordinate amount of spinel harzburgites and pyroxenites. The combination of results from a two-pyroxene geothermometer and Ca-in-olivine geobarometer yields temperature–pressure (T–P) estimates for spinel peridotites that fall in experimentally determined spinel lherzolite field in CaO-Fe-MgO-Al2O3-SiO2-Cr2O3 (CFMASCr) system. These T–P data sets have been used to construct the Quaternary Jeju Island geotherm, which defines a locus from about 13 kbar at 880°C to 26 kbar at 1040°C. The geothermal gradient of Jeju Island is greater than that of the conventional conductive models, and may be as a result of a thermal perturbation by the heat input into the lithospheric mantle via the passage and emplacement of magma. Spinel–lherzolite is the main constituent rock-type of the lithospheric mantle beneath Jeju Island. Pyroxenites may be intercalated in peridotites at similar depth and temperature as re-equilibrated veins or lenses.  相似文献   

7.
Phase behaviour in the system diopside-jadeite (CaMgSi2O6NaAlSi2O6) have been investigated in the pressure region 100–300 kbar at about 1000°C in a diamond-anvil press coupled with laser heating. The omphacite solid solution extends from 30 to at least 200 kbar for the entire system. Omphacites, ranging in composition from pure diopside to more than 40 mole % jadeite, transform to diopside (II) at pressures greater than 230 kbar. Diopside (II), which probably possesses a perovskite-type structure, cannot be preserved when experiments are quenched to ambient conditions. Jadeite-rich omphacites were found to decompose into an assemblage of NaAlSiO4(CaFe2O4-type structure) + stishovite + diopside (II) (?) at pressures greater than about 260 kbar. These results suggest that an eclogitic model mantle would not display the 400-km seismic discontinuity. Moreover, sodium in the transition zone and lower mantle would most likely be accommodated in phases of omphacite and diopside (II).  相似文献   

8.
We determined the partition coefficients of 19 elements between metallic liquid and silicate liquid at 20 GPa and 2500°C, and between metallic liquid and silicate perovskite at 27 GPa and 2200°C. Remarkable differences were observed in the partitioning behaviors of Si, P, W, Re, and Pb among the silicate liquid, perovskite, and magnesiowüstite coexisting with metallic liquid, reflecting incompatibility of the elements in the silicate or oxide phase. We could not observe any significant difference in the partitioning behaviors of V, Cr, Mn, Co, Ni, and Cu among the phases coexisting with metallic liquid.

Comparison of the present partitioning data with those obtained previously at lower pressure and temperature suggests that the exchange partition coefficients, Kmet/sil, of Co, Ni, Mo, and W decrease, whereas those of V, Cr, and Mn increase and tend to approach unity with increasing pressure and temperature. We also made preliminary experiments to clarify the effect of sulfur on the partitioning behaviors. Sulfur lowers the exchange partition coefficients, Kmet/sil, of Mo and W between metallic liquid and silicate liquid significantly at 20 GPa and 2300°C.

The mantle abundances of Co, Ni, Cu, Mo, and W calculated for the metal-silicate equilibrium model are lower than those of the real mantle, whereas P, K, and Mn are overabundant in the calculated mantle. The discrepancies in the abundances of Co and Ni could be explained by the chemical equilibrium at higher pressure and temperature. Large discrepancies in Mo and W between the calculated and real mantles could be accounted for by the effect of sulfur combined with the effects of pressure and temperature on the chemical equilibrium. The mantle abundances of P, K, and Cu could be accounted for by volatile loss in the nebula, perhaps before accretion of the Earth, combined with the chemical equilibrium at higher pressure and temperature. Thus the observed mantle abundances of P, K, Co, Ni, Cu, Mo, and W may be consistent with a model of sulfur-bearing metal-silicate equilibrium in lower-mantle conditions.  相似文献   


9.
The densities of silicate liquids with basic, picritic, and ultrabasic compositions have been estimated from the melting curves of minerals at high pressures. Silicate liquids generated by partial melting of the upper mantle are denser than olivine and pyroxenes at pressures higher than 70 kbar, and garnet is the only phase which is denser than the liquid at pressures from 70 kbar to at least 170 kbar. In this pressure range, garnet and some fraction of liquid separate from ascending partially molten diapirs. It is therefore suggested that aluminium-depleted komatiite with a high Ca/OAl2O3 ratio may be derived from diapirs which originated in the deep upper mantle at pressures from 70 kbar to at least 140 kbar (200–400 km in depth), where selective separation of pyropic garnet occurs effectively. On the other hand, aluminium-undepleted komatiite is probably derived from diapirs originating at shallower depths (< 200 km). Enrichment of pyropic garnet is expected at depths greater than 200 km by selective separation of garnet from ascending diapirs. The 200-km discontinuity in the seismic wave velocity profile may be explained by a relatively high concentration of pyropic garnet at depths greater than 200 km.  相似文献   

10.
Solvi and liquidi for various LiFMgF2 mixtures have been determined at pressures up to 40 kbar by differential-thermal-analysis in a piston-cylinder high-pressure device. The melting curves of pure LiF and MgF2 were also studied and the initial slopes (dTm/dP)P = 0 were found to be 11.2 and 8.3°C/kbar, respectively. The eutectic composition (LiF)0.64(MgF2)0.36 is independent of pressure to 35 kbar and the eutectic temperature rises approximately 6.3°C per kbar. Initial slopes of 11°C/kbar and 35°C/kbar are inferred for the melting curves of MgO and SiO2 (stishovite) respectively, on the basis of data for their structural analogue compounds. The observed solid solution of LiF in MgF2 and other evidence suggest the possibility of solid solution in the system (Mg,Fe)OSiO2 (stishovite) under mantle conditions which may have important consequences for the elastic properties of a “mixed-oxide” zone of the earth's mantle.  相似文献   

11.
Pyroxene (omphacitic) and garnet (pyrope-rich) are the two major mineral components of an eclogite. No high-pressure phase transformation has been observed in omphacite and pyrope in the pressure range between 30 and 200 kbar and at 1000°C. The phase behaviour of the DSDP3-18 glass (basaltic and eclogitic composition) has been investigated in the pressure range between 100 and 280 kbar at about 1000°C in a diamond-anvil press coupled with laser heating. Both omphacite and garnet were observed in the range 100 to 150 kbar and garnet is the only phase observed in the 180-kbar run. However, it was inferred from other evidence that garnet also coexists with diopside (II) in the 180-kbar run. Diopside (II) is an unquenchable phase which is impossible to preserve on release of pressure. Glasses were the only products quenched from runs carried out at pressures greater than 210 kbar. These glasses were also interpreted as diopside(II). The phase behaviour of this complex eclogite composition at pressures below 200 kbar generally resembles that of a simple enstatite-pyrope system; pyroxene progressively dissolves in garnet with increasing pressure. The P-T conditions for the pyroxene ? garnet transition and the accompanying density (or velocity) change in the eclogitic composition are not consistent with those of the 400-km discontinuity in the Earth's mantle. Thus, an eclogitic mantle composition would not undergo a phase transformation which would be capable of accounting for the major seismic discontinuity observed in the vicinity of 400 km.  相似文献   

12.
Progress in understanding the condensation of planetary constituents from a solar nebula necessitates a re-examination of models for the origin and composition of the Earth. All models which appear to be viable require the Earth to have an Fe–FeS core and the full, or nearly full, solar (i.e. chondritic) K/Si ratio. The crust and upper mantle do not contain the requisite potassium for the entire Earth to have the solar K/Si ratio. Therefore, these models require that much of the Earth's potassium, about 80–90%, must be in the deep interior—in the lower mantle or in the core.The hypothesis that a substantial fraction of the Earth's potassium is in the Fe–FeS core is based on the chalcophilic behavior of potassium. Data including the stability of K2S, the occurrence of potassium in sulfide phases in meteorites and in metallurgical systems, and most importantly, experiments on potassium partitioning between solid silicates and Fe–FeS melts support this hypothesis. The present data appear to require at least several percent of the Earth's total potassium to be in the core. Incorporation of much larger amounts of potassium into the core, possibly most of the 80–90% of the Earth's potassium which is postulated to be in the deep interior, is not contradicted by the present data. Additional experimental data, at high pressures, are required before quantitative estimates of the core's potassium content can be made.It is likely that40K is a significant heat source in the core. Decay of40K is a plausible energy source to drive core convection to maintain the geomagnetic field, and to drive mantle convection and seafloor spreading.  相似文献   

13.
Melting phase relations of an augite-olivine high-magnesian andesite and an augite-olivine basalt from the Miocene Setouchi volcanic belt in southwest Japan have been studied under water-saturated, water-undersaturated and under anhydrous conditions. Both the andesite and the basalt are characterized by low FeO*/MgO ratios (0.86 and 0.76 in weight, respectively) and qualify as primary magmas derived from the upper mantle.The andesite melt coexists with olivine, orthopyroxene and clinopyroxene at 15 kbar and 1030°C under water-saturated conditions, and at 10 kbar and 1070°C under water-undersaturated conditions (7 wt.% H2O in the melt). The basalt-melt also coexists with the above three phases at 11 kbar and 1305°C under anhydrous conditions, and at 15 kbar and 1205°C in the presence of 4 wt.% water.Present studies indicate that high-magnesian andesite magmas may be produced even under water-undersaturated conditions by partial melting of mantle peridotite. It is suggested that two types of high-magnesian andesites in the Setouchi volcanic belt (augite-olivine and bronzite-olivine andesites) were produced by different degrees of partial melting; augite-olivine andesite magmas, whose mantle residual is lherzolite, were formed by lower degrees of partial melting than bronzite-olivine andesite magmas, which coexist with harzburgite. The basalt magmas, which were often extruded in close proximity to the high-magnesian andesite magmas, are not partial melting products of a mantle peridotite which had previously melted to yield high-magnesian andesite magmas.  相似文献   

14.
Ultrasonic data for the velocities of SiO2-stishovite have been determined as a function of pressure to 10 kbar at room temperature for polycrystalline specimens hot-pressed at pressures P = 120kbar and temperatures T = 900°C. These cylindrical specimens are 2 mm in diameter and 0.9–1.4 mm long and have a grain size less than 10 μm. Compressional and shear wave velocities were measured both parallel and perpendicular to the axis of pressing and were found to be isotropic at 10 kbar with νp = 11.0 ± 0.2km/sec andνs = 6.9 ± 0.3km/sec; this shear velocit is substantially higher than that of Mizutani et al. (1972) perhaps due to the presence of crack orientations in their specimen which affected νs but not νp. The Murnaghan P-V trajectories calculated from the ultrasonic data [bulk modulus Ks = 2.5 ± 0.3Mbar and assuming (?Ks/?P)T = 6 ± 2] are consistent with recent hydrostatic compression data and with the shock wave compression data above 600 kbar. The combined evidence from the data of the ultrasonic and hydrostatic compression techniques suggests that the most probable value of the bulk modulus of stishovite at zero pressure is close to the upper limit of the uncertainty of our ultrasonically determined value, K0 = 2.7?2.8Mbar. Elasticity data for rutile-type oxides are not compatible with normal Ks-V0 systematics perhaps due to the neglect of non-central forces in the lattice model. These new stishovite data would make it impossible to satisfy the elasticity-density data of the lower mantle using an oxide mixture with either olivine or pyroxene stoichiometry.  相似文献   

15.
Spinel-lherzolite xenoliths have been found in olivine tholeiite near Andover in the Tasmanian Tertiary volcanic province. They show a high-pressure mineralogy of predominant olivine (Mg90), with aluminous enstatite (Mg90) and lesser aluminous diopside and chrome-bearing spinel, and resemble lherzolite xenoliths commonly found in undersaturated lavas. Such xenoliths are unusual in tholeiitic basalts and the occurrence directly attests to a mantle origin for at least some tholeiitic magmas.The lherzolites are accompanied by doleritic and pyroxenitic xenoliths and by olivine, orthopyroxene, clinopyroxene and plagioclase xenocrysts. If near-liquidus phases are represented amongst the xenocrysts, then the magnesian number of the host basalt and its xenocryst assemblage provisionally suggest a magma derived by more than 15–20% partial melting of mantle peridotite, before commencing xenocryst crystallisation at pressures between 8–13 kbar.With this new record, lherzolite-bearing lavas in Tasmania now cover an extremely wide compositional range, extending from highly undersaturated olivine melilitite to olivine tholeiite. They also include a considerable number of fractionated alkaline rocks that are only sparsely reported in the literature as lherzolite hosts. This latter group contains representatives of a previously suggested but unestablished alkaline fractionation series based on olivine nephelinite, viz. calcic olivine nephelinite → sodic olivine nephelinite → potassi-sodic olivine nephelinite → mafic nepheline benmoreite → mafic phonolite.Lherzolite and megacryst-bearing lavas are relatively more abundant in peripheral parts to the main basalt sequences in Tasmania. This suggests that they developed in fringing zones of less intense mantle melting which enhanced stagnation and fractionation of magmas within the mantle before eruption. Calculated crustal thicknesses under these areas suggest that the magmas were generated at pressures exceeding 6–11 kbar, with the Andover tholeiitic magma exceeding 9 kbar.  相似文献   

16.
17.
The solubility of Au in silicate melts and fluids governs the enrichment and migration of Au during the formation of magmatic-hydrothermal Au deposits. Large Au deposits require vast amounts of Au to migrate from the upper mantle-lower crust to the shallow crust, and high Au solubility in magma and hydrothermal fluid facilitates the formation of Au-rich magma and fluid in the crust and mantle source and efficient transport. This paper reviews recent high-pressure and high-temperature experimental studies on Au species in magmas and hydrothermal fluids, the partitioning behavior of Au between silicate melts and fluids, and the effects of temperature, pressure, oxygen fugacity, sulfur fugacity, silicate melt composition, and volatiles(H_2O, CO_2, chlorine, and sulfur) on the solubility of Au in magma. We show that the solubility of Au in magma is largely controlled by the volatiles in the magma: the higher the content of reduced sulfur(S~(2-) and HS~-) in the magma, the higher the solubility of Au. Under high-temperature, high-pressure, H_2O-rich, and intermediate oxygen fugacity conditions, magma can dissolve more reduced sulfur species, thus enhancing the ability of the magma to transport Au. If the ore-forming elements of the Au deposits in the North China Craton originate from mantle-derived magmas and fluids, we can conclude, in terms of massive Au migration, that these deep Au-rich magmas might have been generated under H2 O-rich and moderately oxidized conditions(S~(2-) coexists with S~(6+)). The big mantle wedge beneath East Asia was metasomatized by melts and fluids from the dehydration of the Early Cretaceous paleo-Pacific stagnant slab, which not only caused thinning of the North China Craton, but also created physicochemical conditions favorable for massive Au migration.  相似文献   

18.
The phase assemblages of monticellite (CaMgSiO4) were investigated in the pressure range 80–300 kbar at about 1000°C in a diamond-anvil cell with laser heating. Incorporating earlier work, the following phase transformations are found:
where the percentages give the decreases in zero-pressure volume for the new assemblage. If merwinite is a stable mantle mineral phase, even in very small quantities (~1 mole percent), the results imply that olivine might decrease substantially in amount in the lower part of the Earth's upper mantle. This study also suggests that the observed seismic discontinuities in the mantle should not be entirely attributed to high-pressure polymorphism or decompositions of individual mineral species, and that some discontinuities may result from chemical reactions between the individual phases.  相似文献   

19.
Experimental evidence for the role of accessory phases in magma genesis   总被引:1,自引:0,他引:1  
Recent experimental studies have established petrogenetic models based on melting processes involving major phases. The possible residual character of trace-element-enriched accessory phases is not considered for temperatures well above the solidus in these models. In contrast, geochemists, applying trace element data to independently test the experimentally-based models, have concluded that residual (or fractionating) accessory phases may have an essential role in controlling the trace element (especially REE) distributions in magmas.Some recent experimental work provides data on the stability of potentially significant accessories such as sphene, rutile, apatite, zoisite and mica in basaltic compositions at elevated P and T. Sphene is stable to 1000°C with 60% melting of a hydrous tholeiite at 15 kbar. At higher pressure, rutile is the only Ti-rich accessory phase, and is present to at least 1000°C and high degrees of melting. Published REE data on sphene and rutile suggest that these phases may be important in controlling REE distribution in some magmas. For example, island are high-Mg, low-Ca-Ti tholeiites with low REE abundances and U-shaped patterns (Hickey and Frey, 1979) may reflect the role of sphene. In addition to rutile, similar close-packed Ti-rich accessory phases such as priderite, perovskite, crichtonite and loveringite may occur in mantle-derived magmas. These phases readily accommodate the REE but their possible role needs experimental confirmation.Apatite is recorded in hawaiite (1.16% P2Os) with 2% H2O added at 5–6 kbar and 1050°C within 30°C of the liquidus, but at present no other experimental data are available on its high P, T stability, although thermodynamic calculations indicate that F may increase its stability markedly. Apatite is well known in high-pressure inclusions and as a phenocryst phase in rocks of the alkaline and calc-alkaline series.Ilmenite is known as a near-liquidus phase in some mafic magmas at 5–10 kbar, but its stability decreases to near-solidus at 25–30 kbar. Zoisite occurs in hydrous mafic compositions at mantle pressures, but it is confined to temperatures < 780°C. Finally, mica has a wide temperature range of stability at mantle pressures, especially in potassic magmas, and phlogopitic mica is stable to 1040°C at 20–25 kbar in a hydrous, K-rich “tholeiite” (1.6% K2O).  相似文献   

20.
We present here a new model of core formation which is based on the current understanding of planetary accretion and discuss its implications for the chemistry of the Earth's mantle and core. Formation of the Earth by hierarchical accretion of progressively larger bodies on a time scale much longer than that of solid body differentiation in the nebula indicates that a significant fraction of metal in the core could be inherited from preterrestrially differentiated planetesimals. An analysis of the segregation of this iron to form the core suggests that most of the metal settles to the core without interaction with silicates; only a small fraction of the metal chemically equilibrates at high temperatures and pressures with the silicates. The siderophile element abundances in the mantle are considered to be a consequence of a two-step equilibration with iron, once preterrestrially in the planetesimals at low temperatures and pressures, and later in the Earth at high temperatures and pressures. The highly siderophile elements such as Re, Au and the platinum group elements in the mantle are essentially excluded from silicates from the preterrestrial equilibration. We attribute the abundances of these elements in the mantle to the later equilibration in the Earth at substantially reduced metal-silicate partition coefficients (Dmet/sil), for which there is a considerable experimental evidence now. Mass balance considerations constrain the fraction of core metal involved in such an equilibration at approximately 0.3 – 0.5%. The model accounts for the levels and the near-chondritic ratios of the highly siderophile elements in the mantle. The mantle abundances of the less siderophile elements are largely determined by preterrestrial metal-silicate equilibrium and are not significantly affected by the second equilibration. The extreme depletion of sulfur and the lack of silicate melt-sulfide signature in the noble metal abundances in the mantle are natural consequences of this mode of core formation. Sulfur was added to the magma ocean during the high-T, high-P equilibration in the Earth, not extracted from it by sulfide segregation to the core. Except for Ni and Co, the overall siderophile abundances of the mantle can be well matched in this two-step equilibration model.

The mantle characteristics of Ni and Co are unique to the Earth and hence suggest a terrestrial process as the likely cause. One such process is the flotation and addition of olivine to the primitive upper mantle. In our model of core formation, neither the elemental and isotopic data of Re---Os, nor the low sulfur content of the mantle remains as an objection to the existence of a magma ocean and olivine flotation.

The small fraction of core metal that equilibrates with silicates at high T and P suggests that the light elements O, Si or H are unimportant in the core, leaving S (and possibly C) as prime candidates. Sulfur, as FeS associated with incoming iron metal, is directly sequestered to the core along with the bulk of the iron metal. It appears unlikely that other light elements can be added to the core after its formation. U and Th are excluded from the core but the model allows for entry of some K; however, the extent to which K serves as a heat source in the core remains uncertain.

The model is testable in two ways. One is by investigation of the metal-silicate partitioning at high temperatures and pressures under magma ocean conditions to determine if the (Dmet/sil) values are lowered to the levels required in the model. The other is by experiments to determine if a solvus closure between metal and silicate liquids occurs at high temperatures relevant to a magma ocean.  相似文献   


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