IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v13y2022i1d10.1038_s41467-022-27991-9.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Fe-FeSi phase diagram at Mercury’s core conditions

Author

Listed:
  • E. Edmund

    (Sorbonne Université, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, UMR CNRS 7590, Institut de Minéralogie, de Physique des Matériaux et de Cosmochimie, IMPMC
    Centre for High Pressure Science and Technology Advanced Research (HPSTAR)
    Earth and Planets Laboratory, Carnegie Institution for Science)

  • G. Morard

    (Sorbonne Université, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, UMR CNRS 7590, Institut de Minéralogie, de Physique des Matériaux et de Cosmochimie, IMPMC
    Université Grenoble Alpes, Université Savoie Mont Blanc, CNRS, IRD, Université Gustave-Eiffel, ISTerre)

  • M. A. Baron

    (Sorbonne Université, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, UMR CNRS 7590, Institut de Minéralogie, de Physique des Matériaux et de Cosmochimie, IMPMC)

  • A. Rivoldini

    (Royal Observatory of Belgium)

  • S. Yokoo

    (The University of Tokyo)

  • S. Boccato

    (Sorbonne Université, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, UMR CNRS 7590, Institut de Minéralogie, de Physique des Matériaux et de Cosmochimie, IMPMC)

  • K. Hirose

    (The University of Tokyo
    Earth-Life Science Institute, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Meguro)

  • A. Pakhomova

    (Photon Science, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron)

  • D. Antonangeli

    (Sorbonne Université, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, UMR CNRS 7590, Institut de Minéralogie, de Physique des Matériaux et de Cosmochimie, IMPMC)

Abstract

Mercury’s metallic core is expected to have formed under highly reducing conditions, resulting in the presence of significant quantities of silicon alloyed to iron. Here we present the phase diagram of the Fe-FeSi system, reconstructed from in situ X-ray diffraction measurements at pressure and temperature conditions spanning over those expected for Mercury’s core, and ex situ chemical analysis of recovered samples. Under high pressure, we do not observe a miscibility gap between the cubic fcc and B2 structures, but rather the formation of a re-entrant bcc phase at temperatures close to melting. Upon melting, the investigated alloys are observed to evolve towards two distinct Fe-rich and Fe-poor liquid compositions at pressures below 35-38 GPa. The evolution of the phase diagram with pressure and temperature prescribes a range of possible core crystallization regimes, with strong dependence on the Si abundance of the core.

Suggested Citation

  • E. Edmund & G. Morard & M. A. Baron & A. Rivoldini & S. Yokoo & S. Boccato & K. Hirose & A. Pakhomova & D. Antonangeli, 2022. "The Fe-FeSi phase diagram at Mercury’s core conditions," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-9, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:13:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-022-27991-9
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-27991-9
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-27991-9
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-022-27991-9?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:13:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-022-27991-9. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.