Repository logo

Infoscience

  • English
  • French
Log In
Logo EPFL, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne

Infoscience

  • English
  • French
Log In
  1. Home
  2. Academic and Research Output
  3. Journal articles
  4. Partitioning of Si and platinum group elements between liquid and solid Fe-Si alloys
 
research article

Partitioning of Si and platinum group elements between liquid and solid Fe-Si alloys

Morard, G.
•
Siebert, J.
•
Badro, J.  
2014
Geochimica Et Cosmochimica Acta

Crystallization of the Earth's inner core fractionates major and minor elements between the solid and liquid metal, leaving physical and geochemical imprints on the Earth's core. For example, the density jump observed at the Inner Core Boundary (ICB) is related to the preferential partitioning of lighter elements in the liquid outer core. The fractionation of Os, Re and Pt between liquid and solid during inner core crystallization has been invoked as a process that explains the observed Os isotopic signature of mantle plume-derived lavas (Brandon et al., 1998; Brandon and Walker, 2005) in terms of core-mantle interaction. In this article we measured partitioning of Si, Os, Re and Pt between liquid and solid metal. Isobaric (2 GPa) experiments were conducted in a piston-cylinder press at temperatures between 1250 degrees C and 1600 degrees C in which an imposed thermal gradient through the sample provided solid-liquid coexistence in the Fe-Si system. We determined the narrow melting loop in the Fe-Si system using Si partitioning values and showed that order-disorder transition in the Fe-Si solid phases can have a large effect on Si partitioning. We also found constant partition coefficients (D-Os, D-Pt, D-Re) between liquid and solid metal, for Si concentrations ranging from 2 to 12 wt%. The compact structure of Fe-Si liquid alloys is compatible with incorporation of Si and platinum group elements (PGEs) elements precluding solid-liquid fractionation. Such phase diagram properties are relevant for other light elements such as S and C at high pressure and is not consistent with inter-elemental fractionation of PGEs during metal crystallization at Earth's inner core conditions. We therefore propose that the peculiar Os isotopic signature observed in plume-derived lavas is more likely explained by mantle source heterogeneity (Meibom et al., 2002; Baker and Krogh Jensen, 2004; Luguet et al., 2008). (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  • Details
  • Metrics
Type
research article
DOI
10.1016/j.gca.2014.01.044
Web of Science ID

WOS:000334832100006

Author(s)
Morard, G.
Siebert, J.
Badro, J.  
Date Issued

2014

Publisher

Pergamon-Elsevier Science Ltd

Published in
Geochimica Et Cosmochimica Acta
Volume

132

Start page

94

End page

100

Editorial or Peer reviewed

REVIEWED

Written at

EPFL

EPFL units
EPSL  
Available on Infoscience
May 26, 2014
Use this identifier to reference this record
https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/103629
Logo EPFL, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne
  • Contact
  • infoscience@epfl.ch

  • Follow us on Facebook
  • Follow us on Instagram
  • Follow us on LinkedIn
  • Follow us on X
  • Follow us on Youtube
AccessibilityLegal noticePrivacy policyCookie settingsEnd User AgreementGet helpFeedback

Infoscience is a service managed and provided by the Library and IT Services of EPFL. © EPFL, tous droits réservés