NMSU - Department of Physics - Colloquium Abstract



	Carl Agee Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences University of New Mexico
Geochemistry at High Pressure: Experimental Constraints on Planetary Core Formation
High pressure element partitioning experiments between molten iron-metal and silicate can be used to constrain the depth and temperature of chemical equilibration during planetary core formation. Data for siderophile (iron-loving) elements Ni and Co, and lithophile (rock-loving) elements such as V, Cr, Mn, and Cs that behave as siderophile under extreme conditions, indicate that the Earth's core formed at an average temperature of ~3500K and average pressure of ~50 GPa. These conditions suggest that the last level of equilibration during mantle-core segregation occurred at the bottom of a primordial magma ocean with a depth of ~1500 km.