Partitioning of oxygen during core formation on the Earth and Mars

David C. Rubie (), Christine K. Gessmann and Daniel J. Frost
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David C. Rubie: Bayerisches Geoinstitut, University of Bayreuth
Christine K. Gessmann: Bayerisches Geoinstitut, University of Bayreuth
Daniel J. Frost: Bayerisches Geoinstitut, University of Bayreuth

Nature, 2004, vol. 429, issue 6987, 58-61

Abstract: Abstract Core formation on the Earth and Mars involved the physical separation of metal and silicate, most probably in deep magma oceans1,2,3,4. Although core-formation models explain many aspects of mantle geochemistry, they have not accounted for the large differences observed between the compositions of the mantles of the Earth (∼8?wt% FeO) and Mars (∼18?wt% FeO) or the smaller mass fraction of the martian core5,6,7. Here we explain these differences as a consequence of the solubility of oxygen in liquid iron-alloy increasing with increasing temperature. We assume that the Earth and Mars both accreted from oxidized chondritic material. In a terrestrial magma ocean, 1,200–2,000?km deep, high temperatures resulted in the extraction of FeO from the silicate magma ocean owing to high solubility of oxygen in the metal. Lower temperatures of a martian magma ocean resulted in little or no extraction of FeO from the mantle, which thus remains FeO-rich. The FeO extracted from the Earth's magma ocean may have contributed to chemical heterogeneities in the lowermost mantle8, a FeO-rich D″ layer9 and the light element budget of the core10,11.

Date: 2004
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DOI: 10.1038/nature02473

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