科研之友
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摘要
Following giant impacts the early Hadean Earth was shrouded in a steam atmosphere for durations on the order of 1 Ma. In order to investigate the potential of this atmosphere to fractionate major elements between various silicate reservoirs and influence a planet's geochemical evolution, we performed experiments simulating the interaction of a post-giant-impact steam atmosphere with a bulk silicate Earth (BSE) composition. Our experiments indicate that the composition of the solute in a water-rich atmosphere at 10 MPa and similar to 727 degrees C is remarkably similar to that of Earth's modern continental crust and would constitute up to 10% of the solution mass. This solute composition is similar to solute compositions previously measured at higher pressures, but distinct from those of near-solidus peridotite melts. Mass balance calculations based upon the hypothesis that Earth's initial water concentration was similar to that in CI carbonaceous chondrites, and that degassing and metasomatism produced the BSE, indicate that metasomatism could produce from 10 to 300% of the mass of the modern crust. If instead the amount of metasomatism is estimated by the difference between the water concentration in the BSE and in the depleted upper mantle, then a mass of up to approximately 4% of the current crust could be produced by metasomatism. Using results of earlier research we find that the solute is expected to have a smaller Sm/ Nd ratio than the residual BSE, and if the solute was formed early in Earth's history its Nd isotopic signatures would be highly enriched. Although we cannot be certain that the metasomatic process created a significant fraction of Earth's crust in the early Hadean, our research indicates that it has the potential to form crustal nuclei and possibly was responsible for the production of incompatible-element enriched reservoirs in the early Earth, as seen in the isotopic signatures of Archean rocks.
- 出版日期2017-4-1
- 单位McGill
