Reconciling metal-silicate partitioning and late accretion in the Earth.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Suer TA
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8131616 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:Characterization of the hafnium-tungsten systematics ((182)Hf decaying to (182)W and emitting two electrons with a half-life of 8.9 million years) of the lunar mantle will enable better constraints on the timescale and processes involved in the currently accepted giant-impact theory for the formation and evolution of the Moon, and for testing the late-accretion hypothesis. Uniform, terrestrial-mantle-like W isotopic compositions have been reported among crystallization products of the lunar magma ocean. These observations were interpreted to reflect formation of the Moon and crystallization of the lunar magma ocean after (182)Hf was no longer extant-that is, more than about 60 million years after the Solar System formed. Here we present W isotope data for three lunar samples that are more precise by a factor of ≥4 than those previously reported. The new data reveal that the lunar mantle has a well-resolved (182)W excess of 20.6 ± 5.1 parts per million (±2 standard deviations), relative to the modern terrestrial mantle. The offset between the mantles of the Moon and the modern Earth is best explained by assuming that the W isotopic compositions of the two bodies were identical immediately following formation of the Moon, and that they then diverged as a result of disproportional late accretion to the Earth and Moon. One implication of this model is that metal from the core of the Moon-forming impactor must have efficiently stripped the Earth's mantle of highly siderophile elements on its way to merge with the terrestrial core, requiring a substantial, but still poorly defined, level of metal-silicate equilibration.
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Project description:Constraints on the formation history of the Earth are critical for understanding of planet formation processes. (182)Hf-(182)W chronometry of terrestrial rocks points to accretion of Earth in approximately 30 Myr after the formation of the solar system, immediately followed by the Moon-forming giant impact (MGI). Nevertheless, some N-body simulations and (182)Hf-(182)W and (87)Rb-(87)Sr chronology of some lunar rocks have been used to argue for a later formation of the Moon at 52 to > 100 Myr. This discrepancy is often explained by metal-silicate disequilibrium during giant impacts. Here we describe a model of the (182)W isotopic evolution of the accreting Earth, including constraints from partitioning of refractory siderophile elements (Ni, Co, W, V, and Nb) during core formation, which can explain the discrepancy. Our modeling shows that the concentrations of the siderophile elements of the mantle are consistent with high-pressure metal-silicate equilibration in a terrestrial magma ocean. Our analysis shows that the timing of the MGI is inversely correlated with the time scale of the main accretion stage of the Earth. Specifically, the earliest time the MGI could have taken place right at approximately 30 Myr, corresponds to the end of main-stage accretion at approximately 30 Myr. A late MGI (> 52 Myr) requires the main stage of the Earth's accretion to be completed rapidly in < 10.7 ± 2.5 Myr. These are the two end member solutions and a continuum of solutions exists in between these extremes.
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Project description:Previous experiments performed below 20 GPa suggested that the metal/silicate partition coefficient of phosphorus (P), DP, extrapolated to typical high-pressure and -temperature conditions of the Earth's core formation gives too high P concentration in the core unless a large amount of silicon was included in metals. Here we examined DP between liquid metal and coexisting molten silicate at 27-61 GPa and 3820-4760 K, corresponding to conditions of core-forming metal segregation from silicate, by measuring recovered samples using a high-resolution imaging technique coupled with secondary ion mass spectrometry. The results demonstrate that the pressure dependence of DP changes from positive to negative above 15 GPa, likely because of an increase in the coordination number of P5+ in silicate melt. With the present new partitioning data, the observed mantle P abundance may indicate ~ 0.2 wt% P in the core, consistent with the cosmo-/geochemical estimates, based on both single-stage and multi-stage core formation models without involving high amounts of silicon in metals.
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Project description:Chondritic meteorites are thought to be representative of the material that formed the Earth. However, the Earth is depleted in volatile elements in a manner unlike that in any chondrite, and yet these elements retain chondritic isotope ratios. Here we use N-body simulations to show that the Earth did not form from chondrites, but rather by stochastic accretion of many precursor bodies whose variable compositions reflect the temperatures at which they formed. Earth's composition is reproduced when initial temperatures of planetesimal- to embryo-sized bodies are set by disk accretion rates of (1.08±0.17)×10-7 solar masses/yr, although they may be perturbed by 26Al heating on bodies formed at different times. Our model implies that a heliocentric gradient in composition was present in the protoplanetary disc and that planetesimals formed rapidly within ~1 Myr, in accord with radiometric volatile depletion ages of the Earth.
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Project description:Ab initio molecular dynamics calculations on a carbonate-silicate-metal melt were performed to study speciation and coordination changes as a function of pressure and temperature. We examine in detail the bond abundances of specific element pairs and the distribution of coordination environments over conditions spanning Earth's present-day mantle. Average coordination numbers increase continuously from 4 to 8 for Fe and Mg, from 4 to 6 for Si, and from 2 to 4 for C from 1 to 148 GPa (4,000 K). Speciation across all pressure and temperature conditions is complex due to the unusual bonding of carbon. With the increasing pressure, C-C and C-Fe bonding increase significantly, resulting in the formation of carbon polymers, C-Fe clusters, and the loss of carbonate groups. The increased bonding of carbon with elements other than oxygen indicates that carbon begins to replace oxygen as an anion in the melt network. We evaluate our results in the context of diamond formation and of metal-silicate partitioning behavior of carbon. Our work has implications for properties of carbon and metal-bearing silicate melts, such as viscosity, electrical conductivity, and reactivity with surrounding phases.
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Project description:After the Moon's formation, Earth experienced a protracted bombardment by leftover planetesimals. The mass delivered during this stage of late accretion has been estimated to be approximately 0.5% of Earth's present mass, based on highly siderophile element concentrations in the Earth's mantle and the assumption that all highly siderophile elements delivered by impacts were retained in the mantle. However, late accretion may have involved mostly large (≥ 1,500 km in diameter)-and therefore differentiated-projectiles in which highly siderophile elements were sequestered primarily in metallic cores. Here we present smoothed-particle hydrodynamics impact simulations that show that substantial portions of a large planetesimal's core may descend to the Earth's core or escape accretion entirely. Both outcomes reduce the delivery of highly siderophile elements to the Earth's mantle and imply a late accretion mass that may be two to five times greater than previously thought. Further, we demonstrate that projectile material can be concentrated within localized domains of Earth's mantle, producing both positive and negative 182W isotopic anomalies of the order of 10 to 100 ppm. In this scenario, some isotopic anomalies observed in terrestrial rocks can be explained as products of collisions after Moon formation.
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Project description:The Moon-forming giant impact extensively melts and partially vaporizes the silicate Earth and delivers a substantial mass of metal to Earth's core. The subsequent evolution of the magma ocean and overlying atmosphere has been described by theoretical models but observable constraints on this epoch have proved elusive. Here, we report thermodynamic and climate calculations of the primordial atmosphere during the magma ocean and water ocean epochs respectively and forge new links with observations to gain insight into the behavior of volatiles on the Hadean Earth. As accretion wanes, Earth's magma ocean crystallizes, outgassing the bulk of its volatiles into the primordial atmosphere. The redox state of the magma ocean controls both the chemical composition of the outgassed volatiles and the hydrogen isotopic composition of water oceans that remain after hydrogen escape from the primordial atmosphere. The climate modeling indicates that multi-bar H2-rich atmospheres generate sufficient greenhouse warming and rapid kinetics resulting in ocean-atmosphere H2O-H2 isotopic equilibration. Whereas water condenses and is mostly retained, molecular hydrogen does not condense and can escape, allowing large quantities (~102 bars) of hydrogen - if present - to be lost from the Earth in this epoch. Because the escaping inventory of H can be comparable to the hydrogen inventory in primordial water oceans, equilibrium deuterium enrichment can be large with a magnitude that depends on the initial atmospheric H2 inventory. Under equilibrium partitioning, the water molecule concentrates deuterium and, to the extent that hydrogen in other forms (e.g., H2) are significant species in the outgassed atmosphere, pronounced D/H enrichments (~1.5-2x) in the oceans are expected from equilibrium partitioning in this epoch. By contrast, the common view that terrestrial water has a carbonaceous chondritic source requires the oceans to preserve the isotopic composition of that source, undergoing minimal D-enrichment via equilibration with H2 followed by hydrodynamic escape. Such minimal enrichment places upper limits on the amount of primordial atmospheric H2 in contact with Hadean water oceans and implies oxidizing conditions (logfO2>IW+1, H2/H2O<0.3) for outgassing from the magma ocean. Preservation of an approximate carbonaceous chondrite D/H signature in the oceans thus provides evidence that the observed oxidation of silicate Earth occurred before crystallization of the final magma ocean, yielding a new constraint on the timing of this critical event in Earth history. The seawater-carbonaceous chondrite "match" in D/H (to ~10-20%) further constrains the prior existence of an atmospheric H2 inventory - of any origin - on post-giant-impact Earth to <20 bars, and suggests that the terrestrial mantle supplied the oxidant for the chemical resorption of metals during terrestrial late accretion.
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Project description:The first families of alkaline-earth stannylides [Ae(SnPh3)2·(thf) x ] (Ae = Ca, x = 3, 1; Sr, x = 3, 2; Ba, x = 4, 3) and [Ae{Sn(SiMe3)3}2·(thf) x ] (Ae = Ca, x = 4, 4; Sr, x = 4, 5; Ba, x = 4, 6), where Ae is a large alkaline earth with direct Ae-Sn bonds, are presented. All complexes have been characterised by high-resolution solution NMR spectroscopy, including 119Sn NMR, and by X-ray diffraction crystallography. The molecular structures of [Ca(SnPh3)2·(thf)4] (1'), [Sr(SnPh3)2·(thf)4] (2'), [Ba(SnPh3)2·(thf)5] (3'), 4, 5 and [Ba{Sn(SiMe3)3}2·(thf)5] (6'), most of which crystallised as higher thf solvates than their parents 1-6, were established by XRD analysis; the experimentally determined Sn-Ae-Sn' angles lie in the range 158.10(3)-179.33(4)°. In a given series, the 119Sn NMR chemical shifts are slightly deshielded upon descending group 2 from Ca to Ba, while the silyl-substituted stannyls are much more shielded than the phenyl ones (δ 119Sn/ppm: 1', -133.4; 2', -123.6; 3', -95.5; 4, -856.8; 5, -848.2; 6', -792.7). The bonding and electronic properties of these complexes were also analysed by DFT calculations. The combined spectroscopic, crystallographic and computational analysis of these complexes provide some insight into the main features of these unique families of homoleptic complexes. A comprehensive DFT study (Wiberg bond index, QTAIM and energy decomposition analysis) points at a primarily ionic Ae-Sn bonding, with a small covalent contribution, in these series of complexes; the Sn-Ae-Sn' angle is associated with a flat energy potential surface around its minimum, consistent with the broad range of values determined by experimental and computational methods.
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