DOI: 10.1126/science.1081311. Iron Partitioning in Earth's Mantle: Toward a Deep Lower Mantle Discontinuity

Iron Partitioning in Earth's Mantle: Toward a Deep Lower Mantle Discontinuity

10.1126/science.1081311

Crossref journal-article

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

Science (221)

Abstract

We measured the spin state of iron in ferropericlase (Mg 0.83 Fe 0.17 )O at high pressure and found a high-spin to low-spin transition occurring in the 60- to 70-gigapascal pressure range, corresponding to depths of 2000 kilometers in Earth's lower mantle. This transition implies that the partition coefficient of iron between ferropericlase and magnesium silicate perovskite, the two main constituents of the lower mantle, may increase by several orders of magnitude, depleting the perovskite phase of its iron. The lower mantle may then be composed of two different layers. The upper layer would consist of a phase mixture with about equal partitioning of iron between magnesium silicate perovskite and ferropericlase, whereas the lower layer would consist of almost iron-free perovskite and iron-rich ferropericlase. This stratification is likely to have profound implications for the transport properties of Earth's lowermost mantle.

Bibliography

Badro, J., Fiquet, G., Guyot, F., Rueff, J.-P., Struzhkin, V. V., VankoÌ, G., & Monaco, G. (2003). Iron Partitioning in Earthâs Mantle: Toward a Deep Lower Mantle Discontinuity. Science, 300(5620), 789â791.

Authors 7

James Badro (first)
Guillaume Fiquet (additional)
François Guyot (additional)
Jean-Pascal Rueff (additional)
Viktor V. Struzhkin (additional)
György Vankó (additional)
Giulio Monaco (additional)

References 31 Referenced 428

10.1126/science.283.5409.1885
10.1038/33083
10.1126/science.283.5409.1881
10.1126/science.235.4789.668
S. E. Kesson, J. D. Fitz Gerald, J. M. Shelly, Nature393, 253 (1998). / Nature (1998)
10.1126/science.280.5372.2093
10.1029/1999GL008397
10.1029/2000JB900362
10.1126/science.1062022
10.1029/91JB01202
J. Brodholt unpublished data.
10.1126/science.275.5300.654
The sample (Mg 0.83 Fe 0.17 )O was prepared by annealing of a mixture of MgO and Fe 2 O 3 maintained at 1673 K for 24 hours under a controlled oxygen fugacity between 10 - 9 and 10 - 11 atm. These samples were characterized by x-ray diffraction and shown to be pure ferropericlase.
See supporting data on Science Online.
10.1063/1.112625
10.1103/PhysRevB.51.1045
X. Wanget al., Phys. Rev. B56, 4553 (1997). / Phys. Rev. B (1997)
10.1103/PhysRevLett.82.3284
10.1103/PhysRevLett.83.4101
10.1103/PhysRevB.60.14510
10.1103/PhysRevLett.75.850
10.1016/S0012-821X(96)00234-8
The critical parameter for this type of transition is density; in the absence of structural phase transitions the effect of temperature is to increase the transition pressure to compensate for the thermal expansion. It is therefore not possible to express precisely the transition pressures in terms of depths within Earth because the thermal expansion coefficient at those pressures is not known.
10.1127/0935-1221/2001/0013/0857
10.1029/JB082i036p05737
10.1016/0031-9201(79)90027-X
J. Weertman, J. R. Weertman, Annu. Rev. Geophys.3, 293 (1975). / Annu. Rev. Geophys. (1975)
10.1029/95JB00923
10.1126/science.262.5133.553
10.1111/j.1365-246X.1995.tb01835.x
LS ferropericlase is a much better radiative thermal conductor than HS ferropericlase ( 10 ) because it is transparent to thermal radiation in the near-infrared.

Dates

Type	When
Created	22 years, 4 months ago (May 1, 2003, 4:53 p.m.)
Deposited	1 year, 7 months ago (Jan. 9, 2024, 11:21 p.m.)
Indexed	1 month ago (Aug. 3, 2025, 12:26 a.m.)
Issued	22 years, 4 months ago (May 2, 2003)
Published	22 years, 4 months ago (May 2, 2003)
Published Print	22 years, 4 months ago (May 2, 2003)

Funders 0

None

BibTeX

@article{Badro_2003, title={Iron Partitioning in Earth’s Mantle: Toward a Deep Lower Mantle Discontinuity}, volume={300}, ISSN={1095-9203}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1081311}, DOI={10.1126/science.1081311}, number={5620}, journal={Science}, publisher={American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)}, author={Badro, James and Fiquet, Guillaume and Guyot, François and Rueff, Jean-Pascal and Struzhkin, Viktor V. and Vankó, György and Monaco, Giulio}, year={2003}, month=may, pages={789–791} }

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