A diffusion mechanism for core–mantle interaction

Leslie A. Hayden () and E. Bruce Watson
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Leslie A. Hayden: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York 12180, USA
E. Bruce Watson: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York 12180, USA

Nature, 2007, vol. 450, issue 7170, 709-711

Abstract: Earth, the remix It is thought that mixing of Earth's outer core material back into the mantle following core formation may be responsible for the proportion of elements observed in upper mantle rocks, but the mechanism by which this might occur remains unknown. Leslie Hayden and Bruce Watson report experimental results from a study of grain-boundary diffusion of siderophile ('iron-loving') elements through polycrystalline MgO. Siderophile elements are good indicators of a core contribution to the mantle due to their extreme enrichment in the core. They find diffusivities high enough to mark out grain-boundary diffusion as a potentially significant mechanism in the transport of siderophile elements across the core–mantle boundary over geologically significant distances (tens of kilometres) over the age of the Earth.

Date: 2007
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DOI: 10.1038/nature06380

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