Core formation in the Earth and Moon: new experimental constraints from V, Cr, and Mn

The mantles of the Earth and Moon are similarly depleted in V, Cr, and Mn relative to the concentrations of these elements in chondritic meteorites. The similar depletions have been used as evidence that the Moon inherited its mantle from the Earth after a giant impact event. We have conducted liquid metal-liquid silicate partitioning experiments for V, Cr, and Mn from 3 to 14 GPa and 1723 to 2573 K to understand the behavior of these elements during planetary core formation. Our experiments have included systematic studies of the effects of temperature, silicate composition, metallic S-content, metallic C-content, and pressure. Temperature has a significant effect on the partitioning of V, Cr, Mn, with all three elements increasing their partitioning into the metallic liquid with increasing temperature. In contrast, pressure is not observed to affect the partitioning behavior. The experimental results show the partitioning of Cr and Mn are hardly dependent on the silicate composition, whereas V partitions more strongly into depolymerized silicate melts. The addition of either S or C to the metallic liquid causes increased metal-silicate partition coefficients for all three elements. Parameterizing and applying the experimental data, we find that the Earth’s mantle depletions of V, Cr, and possibly Mn can be explained by core formation in a high-temperature magma ocean under oxygen fugacity conditions about two log units below the iron-wüstite buffer, though the depletion of Mn may be due entirely to its volatility. However, more oxidizing conditions proposed in recent core formation models for the Earth cannot account for any of the depletions. Additionally, because we observe no pressure effect on the partitioning behavior, the data do not require the mantle of the Moon to be derived from the Earth’s mantle, although this is not ruled out. All that is required to create depletions of V, Cr, and Mn in a mantle is a planetary body that is hot enough and reducing enough during its core formation. Such conditions could have existed on the Moon-forming impactor.     

核幔成矿物质(流体)的反重力迁移——地幔热柱多级演化成矿作用

地壳中矿床分布极不均匀 ,这与地球的形成与演化密切相关。在地球演化的早期 ,由于在引力收缩和热力膨胀的统一作用支配下 ,放射性、卤族、稀有、稀土元素及碱金属向上迁移 ,而贵金属、有色、铁族、铂族等密度较大的元素则有逐渐向地核聚集的趋势 ,以至于铁、镍、金等元素主要聚集在地核之中。但是 ,在地球形成圈层结构的同时 ,由于地球内外温度差、压力差、粘度差等的存在 ,导致地球发生以地幔热柱多级演化为主要形式的垂向物质运动 ,两者互为依存 ,并构成幔壳运动的原动力。地幔热柱多级演化沟通了深部矿质的迁移通道 ,聚集在地核及核幔界面上的气态金等重元素得以作为地幔热柱的热物质流 ,呈反重力迁移至岩石圈 ,并进而以气 液态向近地表迁移 ,在有利的构造扩容带中聚集成矿。这可能是金银铜铅锌等多种元素的重要成矿作用方式。     

Highly siderophile elements in the Earth, Moon and Mars: Update and implications for planetary accretion and differentiation

The highly siderophile elements (HSE) pose a challenge for planetary geochemistry. They are normally strongly partitioned into metal relative to silicate. Consequently, planetary core segregation might be expected to essentially quantitatively remove these elements from planetary mantles. Yet the abundances of these elements estimated for Earth's primitive upper mantle (PUM) and the martian mantle are broadly similar, and only about 200 times lower than those of chondritic meteorites. In contrast, although problematic to estimate, abundances in the lunar mantle may be more than twenty times lower than in the terrestrial PUM. The generally chondritic Os isotopic compositions estimated for the terrestrial, lunar and martian mantles require that their long-term Re/Os ratios were within the range of chondritic meteorites. Further, most HSE in the terrestrial PUM also appear to be present in chondritic relative abundances, although Ru/Ir and Pd/Ir ratios are slightly suprachondritic. Similarly suprachondritic Ru/Ir and Pd/Ir ratios have also been reported for some lunar impact melt breccias that were created via large basin forming events.Numerous hypotheses have been proposed to account for the HSE present in Earth's mantle. These hypotheses include inefficient core formation, lowered metal-silicate D values resulting from metal segregation at elevated temperatures and pressures (as may occur at the base of a deep magma ocean), and late accretion of materials with chondritic bulk compositions after the cessation of core segregation. Synthesis of the large database now available for HSE in the terrestrial mantle, lunar samples, and martian meteorites reveals that each of the main hypotheses has flaws. Most difficult to explain is the similarity between HSE in the Earth's PUM and estimates for the martian mantle, coupled with the striking differences between the PUM and estimates for the lunar mantle. More complex, hybrid models that may include aspects of inefficient core formation, HSE partitioning at elevated temperatures and pressures, and late accretion may ultimately be necessary to account for all of the observed HSE characteristics. Participation of aspects of each process may not be surprising as it is difficult to envision the growth of a planet, like Earth, without the involvement of each.     

The split fate of the early Earth,Mars, Venus,and Moon

Plate tectonics shaped the Earth, whereas the Moon is a dry and inactive desert, Mars probably came to rest within the first billion years of its history, and Venus, although internally very active, has a dry inferno for its surface. Here we review the parameters that determined the fates of each of these planets and their geochemical expressions. The strong gravity field of a large planet allows for an enormous amount of gravitational energy to be released, causing the outer part of the planetary body to melt (magma ocean), helps retain water on the planet, and increases the pressure gradient. The weak gravity field and anhydrous conditions prevailing on the Moon stabilized, on top of its magma ocean, a thick buoyant plagioclase lithosphere, which insulated the molten interior. On Earth, the buoyant hydrous phases (serpentines) produced by reactions between the terrestrial magma ocean and the wet impactors received from the outer solar system isolated the magma and kept it molten for some few tens of million years. The planets from the inner solar system accreted dry: foundering of wet surface material softened the terrestrial mantle and set the scene for the onset of plate tectonics. This very same process also may have removed all the water from the surface of Venus and added enough water to its mantle to make its internal dynamics very strong and keep the surface very young. Because of a radius smaller than that of the Earth, not enough water could be drawn into the Martian mantle before it was lost to space and Martian plate tectonics never began. The radius of a planet is therefore the key parameter controlling most of its evolutional features.     

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gsf.2016.07.005

The Hadean history of Earth is shrouded in mystery and it is considered that the planet was born dry with no water or atmosphere. The Earth-Moon system had many features in common during the birth stage. Solidification of the dry magma ocean at 4.53 Ga generated primordial continents with komatiite. We speculate that the upper crust was composed of fractionated gabbros and the middle felsic crust by anorthosite at ca. 21 km depth boundary, underlain by meta-anorthosite (grossular + kyanite + quartz) down to 50–60 km in depth. The thickness of the mafic KREEP basalt in the lower crust, separating it from the underlying upper mantle is not well-constrained and might have been up to ca. 100–200 km depending on the degree of fractionation and gravitational stability versus surrounding mantle density. The primordial continents must have been composed of the final residue of dry magma ocean and enriched in several critical elements including Ca, Mg, Fe, Mn, P, K, and Cl which were exposed on the surface of the dry Earth. Around 190 million years after the solidification of the magma ocean, “ABEL bombardment” delivered volatiles including H₂O, CO₂, N₂ as well as silicate components through the addition of icy asteroids. This event continued for 200 Myr with subordinate bombardments until 3.9 Ga, preparing the Earth for the prebiotic chemical evolution and as the cradle of first life. Due to vigorous convection arising from high mantle potential temperatures, the primordial continents disintegrated and were dragged down to the deep mantle, marking the onset of Hadean plate tectonics.     

The great sulfur depletion of Earth’s mantle is not a signature of mantle–core equilibration

The extreme depletion of the Earth’s mantle in sulfur is commonly seen as a signature of metal segregation from Earth’s mantle to Earth’s core. However, in addition to S, the mantle contains other elements as volatile as S that are hardly depleted relative to the lithophile volatility trend although they are potentially as siderophile as sulfur. We report experiments in metal-sulfide–silicate systems to show that the CI normalized abundances of S, Pb, and Sn in Earth’s mantle cannot be reproduced by element partitioning in Fe ± S–silicate systems, neither at low nor at high pressure. Much of the volatile inventory of the Earth’s mantle must have been added late in the accretion history, when metal melt segregation to the core had become largely inactive. The great depletion in S is attributed to the selective segregation of a late sulfide matte from an oxidized and largely crystalline mantle. Apparently, the volatile abundances of Earth’s mantle are not in redox equilibrium with Earth’s core.     

Speculations on evolution of the terrestrial lithosphere–asthenosphere system—Plumes and plates

In the early Earth, accretionary impact heating, including collision with a large, Mars-sized object, decay of short-lived radioisotopes, and (after an initial thermal run-up) continuous segregation of the liquid Fe–Ni core resulted in extensive the melting of the silicate mantle and in the formation of a near-surface magma mush ocean. Progressive, continuous degassing and chemical–gravitational differentiation of the crust–mantle system accompanied this Hadean stage, and has gradually lessened during the subsequent cooling of the planet. Mantle and core overturn was vigorous in the Hadean Earth, reflecting deep-seated chemical heterogeneities and concentrations of primordial heat. Hot, bottom-up mantle convection, including voluminous plume ascent, efficiently rid the planet of much thermal energy, but gradually decreased in importance with the passage of time. Formation of lithospheric scum began when planetary surface temperatures fell below those of basalt and peridotite solidi. Thickening and broadening of lithospheric plates are inferred from the post-Hadean rock record. Developmental stages of mantle circulation included: (a) 4.5–4.4 Ga, early, chaotic magma ocean circulation involving an incipient or pre-plate regime; (b) 4.4–2.7 Ga, growth of small micro-oceanic and microcontinental platelets, all returned to the mantle prior to 4.0 Ga, but increasing in size and progressively suturing sialic crust-capped lithospheric amalgams at and near the surface over time; (c) 2.7–1.0 Ga, assembly of cratons surmounting larger, supercontinental plates; and (d) 1.0 Ga–present, modern, laminar-flowing asthenospheric cells capped by gigantic, Wilson-cycle lithospheric plates. Restriction of komatiitic lavas to the Archean, and of ophiolite complexes ± alkaline igneous rocks, high-pressure and ultrahigh-pressure metamorphic terranes to progressively younger Proterozoic–Phanerozoic orogenic belts supports the idea that planetary thermal relaxation promoted the increasingly negative buoyancy of cooler oceanic lithosphere. The Thickening of oceanic plates enhanced the gravitational instability and the consequent overturn of the outer Earth as cold, top-down oceanic mantle convection. The scales and dynamics of deep-seated asthenospheric circulation, and of lithospheric foundering + shallow asthenospheric return flow evidently have evolved gradually over geologic time in response to the progressive cooling of the Earth.     

Earth and Mars – Distinct inner solar system products

Composition of terrestrial planets records planetary accretion, core–mantle and crust–mantle differentiation, and surface processes. Here we compare the compositional models of Earth and Mars to reveal their characteristics and formation processes. Earth and Mars are equally enriched in refractory elements (1.9 × CI), although Earth is more volatile-depleted and less oxidized than Mars. Their chemical compositions were established by nebular fractionation, with negligible contributions from post-accretionary losses of moderately volatile elements. The degree of planetary volatile element depletion might correlate with the abundances of chondrules in the accreted materials, planetary size, and their accretion timescale, which provides insights into composition and origin of Mercury, Venus, the Moon-forming giant impactor, and the proto-Earth. During its formation before and after the nebular disk's lifetime, the Earth likely accreted more chondrules and less matrix-like materials than Mars and chondritic asteroids, establishing its marked volatile depletion. A giant impact of an oxidized, differentiated Mars-like (i.e., composition and mass) body into a volatile-depleted, reduced proto-Earth produced a Moon-forming debris ring with mostly a proto-Earth's mantle composition. Chalcophile and some siderophile elements in the silicate Earth added by the Mars-like impactor were extracted into the core by a sulfide melt (∼0.5% of the mass of the Earth's mantle). In contrast, the composition of Mars indicates its rapid accretion of lesser amounts of chondrules under nearly uniform oxidizing conditions. Mars’ rapid cooling and early loss of its dynamo likely led to the absence of plate tectonics and surface water, and the present-day low surface heat flux. These similarities and differences between the Earth and Mars made the former habitable and the other inhospitable to uninhabitable.     

月球的化学演化

月球是一个发生了化学分异的星球,它由月壳、月幔±一个小的金属月核组成。大量观察事实显示月球曾经有过岩浆洋,岩浆洋的结晶分异主导了月球的化学演化。目前主流观点认为,月球是在太阳系演化的早期,至少45亿年前,一个火星大小的星球,与即将完成原始吸积的地球胚胎发生偏心撞击,造成地球的熔融,形成岩浆洋,飞溅出来的物质迅速吸积形成绕地球运动的月球,并且在月球上形成了全球规模的岩浆洋,进而发生了结晶分异。,由于月球上没有海洋和板块俯冲,岩浆洋分异是其化学演化的主要途径。月球岩浆洋的80％～85％在大撞击后的100Ma内已经固化,这可能是由于月球体积小、表面没有大气包裹所致。月球极贫水,因此在岩浆结晶过程中斜长石首先结晶。斜长石由于密度小于玄武质岩浆而漂浮在岩浆洋的表层,橄榄石等密度大的矿物则堆积在岩浆洋的底部。随着结晶分异的进行,残余岩浆不断富集不相容元素,包括K、U等放射性元素;与此同时,密度较大的钛铁矿开始结晶,造成高钛堆晶岩密度大于其下的橄榄石堆晶岩的不稳定结构,进而发生月幔翻转,引发一系列岩浆活动,进而形成月球上特有的镁质系列、碱质系列等岩石。由于月球氧逸度较低,Eu主要以＋2价形式存在,因此斜长石高度富集Eu,相应地除高地斜长岩外,其他岩石均表现为Eu高度亏损的特点。与此同时,Re在低氧逸度下表现为强亲铁元素的特点,Re／Os在月球岩浆过程中不发生分异。月球的体积远小于地球,因而其演化时间远远短于地球,很多原始的分异被完整地保留下来。因此月球的化学演化是类地行星早期演化过程的“化石”,尽管与现代的地球存在较大差异,但是对于认识地球早期演化具有借鉴意义。     

Conditions of core formation in the earth: Constraints from Nickel and Cobalt partitioning

The abundances of Ni and Co in the Earth’s mantle are depleted relative to chondrites due to terrestrial core formation. Recently, the observed mantle depletions of these elements have been explained by liquid metal-liquid silicate equilibrium during core formation in a high pressure, high temperature magma ocean on the early Earth. However, different magma ocean models, which would be expected to give consistent results, have proposed vastly different pressures (24 to 59 GPa), temperatures (2200 to >4000 K) and oxygen fugacities (−0.15 to −2.4 ΔIW) for the Earth’s magma ocean. In an attempt to resolve the contradictory results from different magma ocean models and determine the thermodynamic conditions appropriate for core formation in the Earth, experiments were conducted to better constrain the influences of temperature and C on the partitioning behaviors of Ni and Co. Results of experiments at 7 GPa with temperatures of 1923-2673 K show that the metal-silicate partition coefficients for both Ni and Co decrease with increasing temperature, with the effect being more significant for Ni. Little change in the partitioning behaviors of either Ni or Co with varying C-content of the metallic liquid was found. By combining the new temperature data with previous results from pressure and oxygen fugacity studies, we parameterized the partitioning behavior of Ni and Co and applied the parameterizations to core formation in a terrestrial magma ocean. Multiple combinations of pressure, temperature, and oxygen fugacity can explain the observed mantle depletions of Ni and Co, and all of the very different previously proposed magma ocean conditions are generally consistent with valid solutions. By using the FeO content of the Earth’s mantle as an additional constraint on the oxygen fugacity, magma ocean conditions of 30-60 GPa, > 2000 K, and −2.2 ΔIW are suggested. Similar systematic approaches and studies of other moderately siderophile elements could further constrain the magma ocean conditions on the early Earth.     

Plate tectonics,flood basalts and the evolution of Earth’s oceans

The chemical composition of the bulk silicate Earth (BSE) indicates that the present‐day thermal budget of Earth is likely to be characterized by a significant excess of surface heat loss over internal heat generation, indicating an important role of secular cooling in Earth’s history. When combined with petrological constraints on the degree of secular cooling, this thermal budget places a tight constraint on permissible heat‐flow scaling for mantle convection, along with implications for the operation of plate tectonics on Earth, the history of mantle plumes and flood basalt magmatism, and the origin and evolution of Earth’s oceans. In the presence of plate tectonics, hotter mantle may have convected more slowly because it generates thicker dehydrated lithosphere, which could slow down subduction. The intervals of globally synchronous orogenies are consistent with the predicted variation of plate velocity for the last 3.6 Gyr. Hotter mantle also produces thicker, buoyant basaltic crust, and the subductability of oceanic lithosphere is a critical factor regarding the emergence of plate tectonics before the Proterozoic. Moreover, sluggish convection in the past is equivalent to reduced secular cooling, thus suggesting a more minor role of mantle plumes in the early Earth. Finally, deeper ocean basins are possible with slower plate motion in the past, and Earth’s oceans in the Archean is suggested to have had about twice as much water as today, and the mantle may have started as dry and have been gradually hydrated by subduction. The global water cycle may thus be dominated by regassing, rather than degassing, pointing towards the impact origin of Earth’s oceans, which is shown to be supported by the revised composition of the BSE.     

地幔中水的存在形式和含水量

水以含水变质矿物、无水硅酸盐矿物(橄榄石、辉石等)及其高压结构相(β橄榄石、γ橄榄石、钙钛矿相、方镁铁矿等)、高密度含水镁硅酸盐和熔体的形式存在于地幔各层圈中。根据各类玄武岩水含量推断出的上地幔源区的水含量,和由地幔岩主要矿物———橄榄石的水含量估算出的上地幔水含量(质量分数)很接近,在0.02%左右。以橄榄石和辉石高压相的水含量为依据,进行了过渡带和下地幔水含量的估算,其结果是:过渡带和下地幔上部的水含量(质量分数)为1.48%,下地幔下部水含量(质量分数)为0.21%。据此,计算出的地幔各层圈的总水量表明,地幔水的74%以上存在于过渡带和下地幔上部。将地幔总水量和现代海洋总水量之和作为地球总水量,计算出现代海洋总水量约占全球总水量(质量分数)的6.6%,这个结果与笔者根据地球的球粒陨石成分模型计算出的总水量(6%)十分接近。     

冲击波物理在地球和行星科学研究中的应用

概要介绍了冲击波物理应用于地球和行量科学研究中所取得的一些最新成果。主要涉及地球深部物质的组成，性质和状态，行星的组成模型，以及太阳系中的碰撞成坑和吸积相互作用等领域。着重论述了冲击波物理在这些领域的研究中所发挥的作用。     

地幔转换带中的水及其地球动力学意义

综述了近20年国际上地幔转换带中水的研究进展。前人研究表明,地球深部的水主要以OH-(hy-droxyl)形式存储在名义上无水矿物(NAMs)中。高温高压实验研究表明,地幔转换带中的主要矿物均具有较高的储水能力,且在转换带的温压条件下,其储水能力随着温度的升高而降低,其中瓦兹利石(β-Ol)和林伍德石(γ-Ol)的储水能力为2%～3%,超硅石榴子石(Mj)的储水能力为0.1%左右,据此估算地幔转换带的储水能力约为1.2%～1.91%,是地表水总量的3.9～6.2倍;而转换带除外的上地幔和下地幔主要矿物的含水量或储水能力均小于0.1%,因此与上、下地幔相比,地幔转换带可能是地幔的主要储水库。尽管地幔转换带具有较强的储水能力,但对地幔转换带的实际含水量还存在干、湿两方面的地质和地球物理证据和争议。地幔转换带中的水会对转换带中一系列的过程产生重要影响,当水含量增加时,橄榄石(Ol)向β-Ol、γ-Ol分解以及超硅石榴石的分解反应分别向低压、高压和低压方向迁移,从而由橄榄石向β-Ol和γ-Ol分解两个相变反应界定的转换带宽度也会增加;水还会使地幔深部的部分熔融温度降低,熔体的密度降低;同时,水的加入可以很好地解释地幔岩"pyrolite"模型在410km不连续面处产生的与地震波测量不相符突变,也可以解决全地幔对流模式所不能解释的地幔成分分层问题。因此,深入研究和探讨转换带中的水对地球深部动力学过程的影响,包括中国东部地区受太平洋板块深俯冲作用的影响,均具有重要的约束和研究意义。     

下地幔及核幔边界结构及地球动力学

新一代高分辨率下地幔及核幔边界的地震层析成像,改变了我们对全球构造模式及地球动力过程的认识。古海洋岩石圈板片一直俯冲到下地幔底部,其残留体在核幔边界积累,并支持了地幔整体对流模式。位于核幔边界上的D″层有着十分复杂而精细的结构。紧靠核幔边界的地幔一侧发现了超低速层(ULVZ),它们可能是D″层内的局部熔融物,是引起地表热点的上升地幔柱的源头。     

Tectonomagmatic evolution of the Earth and Moon

The Earth and Moon evolved following a similar scenario. The formation of their protocrusts started with upward crystallization of global magmatic oceans. As a result of this process, easily fusible components accumulated in the course of fractional crystallization of melt migrating toward the surface. The protocrusts (granitic in the Earth and anorthositic in the Moon) are retained in ancient continents. The tectonomagmatic activity at the early stage of planet evolution was related to the ascent of mantle plume of the first generation composed of mantle material depleted due to the formation of protocrusts. The regions of extension, rise, and denudation were formed in the Earth above the diffluent heads of such superplumes (Archean granite-greenstone domains and Paleoproterozoic cratons), whereas granulite belts as regions of compression, subsidence, and sedimentation arose above descending mantle flows. The situation may be described in terms of plume tectonics. Gentle uplifts and basins (thalassoids) in lunar continents are probable analogues of these structural elements in the Moon. The period of 2.3–2.0 Ga ago was a turning point in the tectonomagmatic evolution of the Earth, when geochemically enriched Fe-Ti picrites and basalts typical of Phanerozoic within-plate magmatism became widespread. The environmental setting on the Earth’s surface changed at that time, as well. Plate tectonics, currently operating on a global scale, started to develop about ∼2 Ga ago. This turn was related to the origination of thermochemical mantle plumes of the second generation at the interface of the liquid Fe-Ni core and silicate mantle. A similar turning point in the lunar evolution probably occurred 4.2–3.9 Ga ago and completed with the formation of large depressions (seas) with thinned crust and vigorous basaltic magmatism. Such a sequence of events suggests that qualitatively new material previously retained in the planets’ cores was involved in tectonomagmatic processes at the middle stage of planetary evolution. This implies that the considered bodies initially were heterogeneous and were then heated from above to the bottom by propagation of a thermal wave accompanied by cooling of outer shells. Going through the depleted mantle, this wave generated thermal superplumes of the first generation. Cores close to the Fe + FeS eutectics in composition were affected by this wave in the last turn. The melting of the cores resulted in the appearance of thermochemical superplumes and corresponding irreversible rearrangement of geotectonic processes.     

地幔热柱多级演化及其成矿控矿研究:以张-宣幔枝构造研究为例

张-宣地区是河北省金银多金属矿床集中区,可划分出以宣化-崇礼-赤城-带岩浆-变质杂岩区为中心的金矿集中区和外围盖层区的银多金属矿分布区.近年研究表明,金银多金属成矿物质主要来自地球深部,通过地幔热柱多级演化向上迁移,并在幔枝构造的有利构造扩容带中集聚成矿.分别以幔枝构造核部的东坪金矿、拆离带的黄土梁金矿和外围断陷盆地中...     

地幔硫化物的物理化学性质及其地质意义

地幔硫化物是地球亲硫、亲铁元素的重要载体,与硅酸盐矿物有很大的物理性质上差别,它在高温高压条件下的物理化学性质是认识地幔物质组成及其不均一性的重要内容。此外,早期地球、火星、水星和月球幔部来源的硫化物对认识行星演化具有重要意义。地幔硫化物的存在条件、赋存方式以及元素分配系数受到硫化物和硅酸盐体系的化学平衡控制;硫化物在流体介质和固体介质中的迁移可以分别用斯托克斯方程和表面张力模型进行解释。基于目前的天然样品和实验研究结果,本文提出了地幔硫化物物理化学性质研究中尚存在的问题,并作展望：高温高压实验制约分配系数适用的元素含量远高于天然样品,导致亨利定律并不一定适用,要求开展元素含量更低的实验并进行测试;现有的线性或自然对数的经验方程不能准确描述硫化物-硅酸盐体系,机器学习可能揭示其错综复杂的热力学关系;硫化物熔体在深部地幔硅酸盐矿物表面的分布尚不清楚,对极端条件下的静水压力实验提出了需求。

     

动高压物理在地球与行星科学研究中的应用

综述了动高压物理应用于地球和行星科学研究中的一些最新进展,包括地球内部的物质组成与热力学状态,巨行星的物质组成模型,太阳系中的碰撞成坑与吸积相互作用等。依据铁的冲击波数据,结合其他热力学数据,可以得到一条统一的铁的熔化曲线,将动高压与静高压数据完全统一,初步解决了长期困扰高压界的动、静压关于铁的熔化温度存在系统偏差的诘难。外推到ICB处(330 GPa),铁的熔化温度(亦称锚定温度)约为(5 950±100) K。冲击Hugoniot 数据,结合地震学模型可以约束地幔与地核的物质组成。冲击压缩下钙钛矿型(Mg0 9,Fe0 1)SiO3的高压声速测量结果表明,1 770 km深度的不连续面不仅是一个相变界面而且是一个化学成分或矿物学分界面。低温可凝聚气体(H2、He)或冰(H2 O, CH4, CO2, NH3 和N2 )的冲击波数据,及Jeffrey 数等其他数据可以用来构建巨行星(如木星和土星)的物质组成模型。地球深部矿物的冲击温度测量可以用来研究它们的高压熔化行为,据此建立的高压相图可以为控制地幔对流的地幔物质的准静态蠕变提供约束条件。熔融硅酸盐在上地幔压力条件下的冲击压缩数据,可以约束地幔熔岩稳定存在的深度,在此深度地幔熔岩不会因固体围岩提供的浮力而向上运移到地表,从而在此深度形成稳定的低速带。冲击波数据在描写行?     

A possible anorthositic continent of early Mars and the role of planetary size for the inception of Earth-like life

The Moon has an anorthositic primordial continental crust. Recently anorthosite has also been discovered on the Martian surface. Although the occurrence of anorthosite is observed to be very limited in Earth's extant geological record,both lunar and Martian surface geology suggest that anorthosite may have comprised a primordial continent on the early Earth during the first 600 million years after its formation. We hypothesized that differences in the presence of an anorthositic continent on an Earthlike planet are due to planetary size. Earth likely lost its primordial anorthositic continent by tectonic erosion through subduction associated with a kind of proto-plate tectonics(PPT). In contrast, Mars and the Moon, as much smaller planetary bodies, did not lose much of their anorthositic continental crust because mantle convection had weakened and/or largely stopped, and with time, they had appropriately cooled down. Applying this same reasoning to a super-Earth exoplanet suggests that, while a primordial anorthositic continent may briefly form on its surface, such a continent will be likely transported into the deep mantle due to intense mantle convection immediately following its formation. The presence of a primordial continent on an Earth-like planet seems to be essential to whether the planet will be habitable to Earth-like life. The key role of the primordial continent is to provide the necessary and sufficient nutrients for the emergence and evolution of life. With the appearance of a "trinity" consisting of(1) an atmosphere,(2) an ocean, and(3) the primordial continental landmass, material circulation can be maintained to enable a "Habitable Trinity" environment that will permit the emergence of Earth-like life. Thus, with little likelihood of a persistent primordial continent, a super-Earth affords very little chance for Earth-like life to emerge.