scholarly journals Late Accretion on the Earliest Planetesimals Revealed by the Highly Siderophile Elements

Science ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 336 (6077) ◽  
pp. 72-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher W. Dale ◽  
Kevin W. Burton ◽  
Richard C. Greenwood ◽  
Abdelmouhcine Gannoun ◽  
Jonathan Wade ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Solar System ◽  
Oxidation State ◽  
Parent Body ◽  
The Body ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Core Formation ◽  
Highly Siderophile Elements ◽  
The Core ◽  
Siderophile Elements

Late accretion of primitive chondritic material to Earth, the Moon, and Mars, after core formation had ceased, can account for the absolute and relative abundances of highly siderophile elements (HSEs) in their silicate mantles. Here we show that smaller planetesimals also possess elevated HSE abundances in chondritic proportions. This demonstrates that late addition of chondritic material was a common feature of all differentiated planets and planetesimals, irrespective of when they accreted; occurring ≤5 to ≥150 million years after the formation of the solar system. Parent-body size played a role in producing variations in absolute HSE abundances among these bodies; however, the oxidation state of the body exerted the major control by influencing the extent to which late-accreted material was mixed into the silicate mantle rather than removed to the core.

Stochastic Late Accretion to Earth, the Moon, and Mars

Science ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 330 (6010) ◽  
pp. 1527-1530 ◽  
Author(s):  
William F. Bottke ◽  
Richard J. Walker ◽  
James M. D. Day ◽  
David Nesvorny ◽  
Linda Elkins-Tanton
Keyword(s):  
Size Distribution ◽  
Asteroid Belt ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Core Formation ◽  
Highly Siderophile Elements ◽  
Earth’S Mantle ◽  
Distribution Matching ◽  
Siderophile Elements ◽  
Impact Basins

Core formation should have stripped the terrestrial, lunar, and martian mantles of highly siderophile elements (HSEs). Instead, each world has disparate, yet elevated HSE abundances. Late accretion may offer a solution, provided that ≥0.5% Earth masses of broadly chondritic planetesimals reach Earth’s mantle and that ~10 and ~1200 times less mass goes to Mars and the Moon, respectively. We show that leftover planetesimal populations dominated by massive projectiles can explain these additions, with our inferred size distribution matching those derived from the inner asteroid belt, ancient martian impact basins, and planetary accretion models. The largest late terrestrial impactors, at 2500 to 3000 kilometers in diameter, potentially modified Earth’s obliquity by ~10°, whereas those for the Moon, at ~250 to 300 kilometers, may have delivered water to its mantle.

The redox state of the mantle during and just after core formation

2008 ◽  
Vol 366 (1883) ◽  
pp. 4315-4337 ◽  
Author(s):  
D.J Frost ◽  
U Mann ◽  
Y Asahara ◽  
D.C Rubie
Keyword(s):  
Oxygen Fugacity ◽  
Oxidation State ◽  
Upper Mantle ◽  
Partition Coefficients ◽  
Metal Loss ◽  
Core Formation ◽  
The Core ◽  
Mantle Mineral ◽  
Metal Silicate ◽  
Siderophile Elements

Siderophile elements are depleted in the Earth's mantle, relative to chondritic meteorites, as a result of equilibration with core-forming Fe-rich metal. Measurements of metal–silicate partition coefficients show that mantle depletions of slightly siderophile elements (e.g. Cr, V) must have occurred at more reducing conditions than those inferred from the current mantle FeO content. This implies that the oxidation state (i.e. FeO content) of the mantle increased with time as accretion proceeded. The oxygen fugacity of the present-day upper mantle is several orders of magnitude higher than the level imposed by equilibrium with core-forming Fe metal. This results from an increase in the Fe 2 O 3 content of the mantle that probably occurred in the first 1 Ga of the Earth's history. Here we explore fractionation mechanisms that could have caused mantle FeO and Fe 2 O 3 contents to increase while the oxidation state of accreting material remained constant (homogeneous accretion). Using measured metal–silicate partition coefficients for O and Si, we have modelled core–mantle equilibration in a magma ocean that became progressively deeper as accretion proceeded. The model indicates that the mantle would have become gradually oxidized as a result of Si entering the core. However, the increase in mantle FeO content and oxygen fugacity is limited by the fact that O also partitions into the core at high temperatures, which lowers the FeO content of the mantle. (Mg,Fe)(Al,Si)O 3 perovskite, the dominant lower mantle mineral, has a strong affinity for Fe 2 O 3 even in the presence of metallic Fe. As the upper mantle would have been poor in Fe 2 O 3 during core formation, FeO would have disproportionated to produce Fe 2 O 3 (in perovskite) and Fe metal. Loss of some disproportionated Fe metal to the core would have enriched the remaining mantle in Fe 2 O 3 and, if the entire mantle was then homogenized, the oxygen fugacity of the upper mantle would have been raised to its present-day level.

Highly Siderophile Element Constraints on Accretion and Differentiation of the Earth-Moon System

Science ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 315 (5809) ◽  
pp. 217-219 ◽  
Author(s):  
James M. D. Day ◽  
D. Graham Pearson ◽  
Lawrence A. Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Platinum Group Element ◽  
Group Element ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Core Formation ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Highly Siderophile Elements ◽  
Earth’S Mantle ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Siderophile Elements

A new combined rhenium-osmium– and platinum-group element data set for basalts from the Moon establishes that the basalts have uniformly low abundances of highly siderophile elements. The data set indicates a lunar mantle with long-term, chondritic, highly siderophile element ratios, but with absolute abundances that are over 20 times lower than those in Earth's mantle. The results are consistent with silicate-metal equilibrium during a giant impact and core formation in both bodies, followed by post–core-formation late accretion that replenished their mantles with highly siderophile elements. The lunar mantle experienced late accretion that was similar in composition to that of Earth but volumetrically less than (∼0.02% lunar mass) and terminated earlier than for Earth.

The Earth-Moon Connection

1989 ◽  
Vol 44 (10) ◽  
pp. 891-923 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. E. Ringwood
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Relationship ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Core Formation ◽  
Earth’S Mantle ◽  
Terrestrial Atmosphere ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Siderophile Elements ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Close Genetic Relationship

Abstract The early thermal state of the Earth provides important constraints on hypotheses relating to its origin and its connection with the Moon. The currently popular giant impact hypothesis of lunar origin requires the Earth’s mantle to have been completely melted during the impact. Differentiation of a molten mantle would have produced strong chemical and mineralogical stratification, causing the mantle to become gravitationally stable and resistant to convective rehomogenization. The resulting composition and mineralogy of the upper mantle and primitive crust would have been dramatically different from those which have existed during the past 3.8 b. y. It is concluded that the Earth’s mantle was not extensively melted at the conclusion of accretion of the planet and therefore the hypothesis that the Moon was formed by the impact of a martian-sized planetesimal on the proto-Earth is probably incorrect. Nevertheless, a wide range of geochemical evidence demonstrates the existence of a close genetic relationship between the Moon and the Earth’s mantle. The key evidence relates to the processes of core formation in planetary bodies and resultant abundance patterns of siderophile elements which remain in their silicate mantles. Because of the complexity of the core formation process within a given body and the multiplicity of chemical and physical processes involved, the mantle siderophile signature is expected to be a unique characteristic. Thus, the siderophile signatures of Mars and of the eucrite parent body are quite distinct from that of the Earth’s mantle. Lunar siderophile geochemistry is reviewed in detail. It is demonstrated that a large group of siderophile elements display similar abundances in the terrestrial and lunar mantles. The similarity implies that a major proportion of the material now in the Moon was derived from the Earth’s mantle after core formation. This implication, however, does not require that the bulk compositions of the lunar and terrestrial mantles should be essentially identical, as is often assumed. Factors which may contribute to significant compositional differences between the two bodies within the context of a close genetic relationship are reviewed. The most promising mechanism for removing terrestrial material from the Earth’s mantle arises from the impacts of a number of large (0.001 to 0.01 ME) but not giant (≥ 0.1 ME) planetesimals after core formation and at the terminal stage of the Earth’s accretion. These impacts evaporated several times their own masses of mantle material and shock-melted considerably more. However, they did not lead to complete or extensive (e.g. > 50%) melting of the entire mantle. Impact-generated clouds of shock-melted spray and vapours were accelerated to high velocities in the presence of a primitive terrestrial atmosphere that co-rotated with the Earth. This provided an effective means of transferring angular momentum from the Earth to the ejected material which condensed to form a ring of Earth-orbiting planetesimals and moonlets. The Moon was formed by coagulation from material derived from the outer regions of this ring. Accretion of the Earth in the presence of the gases of the solar nebula and the co-rotating primitive terrestrial atmosphere may also have provided a mechanism for generating the rapid prograde spin of the proto-Earth.

scholarly journals Andesitic Magmatism on a Differentiated Asteroid

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Nicklas ◽  
James Day ◽  
Kathryn Gardner-Vandy ◽  
Arya Udry
Keyword(s):  
Partial Melting ◽  
Continental Crust ◽  
Parent Body ◽  
Volatile Components ◽  
Highly Siderophile Elements ◽  
The Past ◽  
Metal Silicate ◽  
Oceanic And Continental Crust ◽  
Siderophile Elements ◽  
Melt Composition

Abstract The Earth differs from other terrestrial planets in having a substantial silica-rich continental crust with a bulk andesitic composition1. The compositional dichotomy between oceanic and continental crust is likely related to water-rich subduction processes2. Over the past decade, the discovery of meteorites with andesitic bulk compositions have demonstrated that continental-crust like compositions can be attained through partial melting of chondritic protoliths3,4,5. Here we show that a newly identified achondrite meteorite, Erg Chech (EC) 002, is a high-Mg andesite but that, unlike previous andesitic achondrites has strongly fractionated and low abundances of the highly siderophile elements (HSE), reminiscent of Earth’s upper continental crust6. The major and HSE composition of EC 002 can be explained if its asteroid parent body underwent metal-silicate equilibrium prior to silicate partial melting without losing significant volatile components. The chemistry of pyroxene grains in EC 002 suggests it approximates a parental melt composition, which cannot be produced by partial melting of pre-existing basaltic lithologies, but more likely requires a metal-free chondritic source. Erg Chech 002 likely formed by ~ 15% melting of the mantle of an alkali-undepleted differentiated asteroid. The discovery of EC 002 shows that extensive silicate differentiation after metal-silicate equilibration was already occurring in the first two million years of solar system history7, and that andesitic crustal compositions do not always require water-rich subduction processes to be produced.

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