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

E. Edmund (), G. Morard, M. A. Baron, A. Rivoldini, S. Yokoo, S. Boccato, K. Hirose, A. Pakhomova and D. Antonangeli
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E. Edmund: Sorbonne Université, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, UMR CNRS 7590, Institut de Minéralogie, de Physique des Matériaux et de Cosmochimie, IMPMC
G. Morard: Sorbonne Université, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, UMR CNRS 7590, Institut de Minéralogie, de Physique des Matériaux et de Cosmochimie, IMPMC
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
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

Nature Communications, 2022, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: 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.

Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-27991-9

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