A diamond-bearing core-mantle boundary on Mercury

Yongjiang Xu, Yanhao Lin (), Peiyan Wu, Olivier Namur, Yishen Zhang and Bernard Charlier
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Yongjiang Xu: Center for High Pressure Science and Technology Advanced Research
Yanhao Lin: Center for High Pressure Science and Technology Advanced Research
Peiyan Wu: Center for High Pressure Science and Technology Advanced Research
Olivier Namur: KU Leuven
Yishen Zhang: KU Leuven
Bernard Charlier: University of Liege, Sart Tilman

Nature Communications, 2024, vol. 15, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract Abundant carbon was identified on Mercury by MESSENGER, which is interpreted as the remnant of a primordial graphite flotation crust, suggesting that the magma ocean and core were saturated in carbon. We re-evaluate carbon speciation in Mercury’s interior in light of the high pressure-temperature experiments, thermodynamic models and the most recent geophysical models of the internal structure of the planet. Although a sulfur-free melt would have been in the stability field of graphite, sulfur dissolution in the melt under the unique reduced conditions depressed the sulfur-rich liquidus to temperatures spanning the graphite-diamond transition. Here we show it is possible, though statistically unlikely, that diamond was stable in the magma ocean. However, the formation of a solid inner core caused diamond to crystallize from the cooling molten core and formation of a diamond layer becoming thicker with time.

Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-49305-x

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