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Class7 - Introduction To Earth System - Earth

The document discusses core-mantle equilibration, including how trace amounts of siderophile elements in the mantle can provide clues about core formation conditions if metal segregation was an equilibrium process. It also examines how the abundances of siderophile elements in the mantle compare to what would be expected from experimentally determined low-pressure partitioning, and considers alternative models like late veneer accretion. Pressure-temperature conditions of around 28 GPa and high temperatures can explain mantle abundances of nickel and cobalt.

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23 views18 pages

Class7 - Introduction To Earth System - Earth

The document discusses core-mantle equilibration, including how trace amounts of siderophile elements in the mantle can provide clues about core formation conditions if metal segregation was an equilibrium process. It also examines how the abundances of siderophile elements in the mantle compare to what would be expected from experimentally determined low-pressure partitioning, and considers alternative models like late veneer accretion. Pressure-temperature conditions of around 28 GPa and high temperatures can explain mantle abundances of nickel and cobalt.

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sahamitrajit477
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Core–mantle equilibration

one consequence of core–mantle separation is that the metal-


loving siderophile elements would be strongly partitioned into the
metallic core.

However, trace amounts of siderophile-elements are retained in


the mantle and if metal segregation were an equilibrium
process then these elements would provide important clues for
deducing the conditions of core formation.
An assumption of many early core formation models was that
metal segregation was contemporaneous with accretion, and that
metal and silicate equilibrated at near-surface, low-temperature
(T) and low-pressure (P) conditions.

Low T–P metal silicate distribution coefficients for highly


siderophile elements have been determined experimentally and
found to lie between 10^–7 and 10^–15. These values lead to the
expected abundances in the mantle as shown in Figure
abundances of the highly siderophile elements observed in the
silicate mantle compare with what would be expected from the
experimentally determined low-pressure partition coefficients?
As you have seen, metal segregation in a magma ocean
would probably occur over a range of temperatures and
pressures, and so equilibrium metal segregation
at high temperature and high pressure in a deep magma
ocean becomes a realistic possibility
However, given their dramatically different partitioning
behaviour at low temperature and pressure it is unlikely
that there exists any set of conditions at which all
siderophile partition coefficients converged to a single
value, which is required by the uniform depletion of the
most highly siderophile elements.
The failure of low-temperature, low-pressure metal/silicate
equilibration models to explain the siderophile excess
inspired a number of alternative models,
But the most popular is-
• the heterogeneous accretion or ‘late veneer’ model in
which core
formation effectively strips out all the siderophile elements
from the mantle, which are subsequently raised to the
observed values by another process.
What process could have raised siderophile element
abundances in the silicate mantle following core
formation?

Continued accretion of meteoritic materials from new


impacts of meteorites with chondritic proportions of the
siderophile elements.
Of these elements, Ni and Co provide some key
constraints because their abundances in the mantle are
accurately and precisely known, and their partitioning
behaviour has been studied over a wide range of
conditions.

Figure shows that within uncertainty, Ni and Co are


present in proportions that are close to chondritic, i.e.
both at ~0.1 chondrite.
The chondritic ratio of Ni to Co in the mantle requires the
ratio of the two partition coefficients DNi/DCo to be about
1.1. Experiments show that an increase in pressure and/or
temperature causes both Ni and Co to become less
siderophile, but at different rates.

a DNi/DCo ratio of 1.1 occurs at a pressure of about 28


Gpa equivalent to a depth of 900–1000 km, implying high
temperature and pressure metal–silicate equilibration
and core segregation.
In the upper part of the mantle, equilibrium metal segregation
from the upper mantle would occur by the ‘rain-out’ of small,
liquid metal globules over a wide range of temperature and
pressure conditions, and the metal would accumulate at the
magma ocean floor. At the boundary between the lower and
upper region, the metal would equilibrate a final time, giving the
upper mantle its present siderophile element signature. Finally,
gravitational instability would cause the formation of large metal
diapirs that sink through the lower region, with or without
reequilibration.
Tungsten isotope ratios and their notation
The beta decay of 182Hf to 182W (t = 9 Ma) has proven to be
of enormous value in determining the relative timing of
events during planetary accretion and core formation.

Because 182Hf is now extinct, evidence for its original


presence is recorded in the isotope ratios of its daughter
element, tungsten (W).

Tungsten consists of five stable isotopes but only one of


these, 182W, has been partly produced by the radioactive
decay of 182Hf. Therefore, to use this geochronometer,
geochemists need to measure the abundance ratio of 182W
to another of the isotopes of W, conventionally 184W.
tungsten isotopes, differences in isotope ratios are
measured in the number of parts in 10^4 (10 000) and are
designated by the Greek letter ε (epsilon), defined
according to the following equation:
Consider the following example. A chondritic meteorite
has a measured 182W/184W ratio of 0.864640. In the
same experiment, a standard representative of the bulk
silicate Earth has a measured 182W/184W ratio of
0.864810.

What is the ε 182W value of the meteorite?


This result shows that the chondrite measured has a
slightly lower amount of radiogenic 182W than the bulk
silicate Earth by 0.02%, or 2 parts in 10 000. Quite
clearly, saying it has a ε 182W value of −2 is much
easier than dealing with a six figure decimal, while the
sign conveys that it is less radiogenic than BSE.

A sample with a positive value has more radiogenic W


than the BSE.
Calculate the ε 182W value for the following data from
another laboratory in which the same meteorite has a
measured 182W/184W ratio of 0.864523 and a standard
representative of the BSE has a measured 182W/184W
ratio of 0.864696.

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