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Abstract: Unraveling the conditions at which Earth''s metallic iron core formed yields important information about Earth''s early accretion and differentiation history. Multi-variable statistical modeling of siderophile element partitioning between core-forming metallic liquids and silicate melts form the basis for physical models of core formation. While it seems clear that core segregation in a deep peridotitic magma ocean is generally consistent with many mantle siderophile element abundances, there is considerable disparity among extant physical models in terms of the key parameters of pressure, temperature and oxygen fugacity at which the core formed. Moreover, there is ongoing debate over whether simple single-stage equilibrium or more complex multi-stage accretion models are required by the partitioning data. Here we consider how variations in the statistical regression of partitioning data affect the outcomes of physical models for core formation. Taking extant experimental data sets for four well-studied siderophile elements (Ni, Co, W and V) as examples, we find that the regression model exerts a fundamental control on physical model outcomes. Further, the experimental data are currently too imprecise to discriminate among various single-stage and continuous core formation scenarios. Progress in the development of physical models requires better isolation of the independent variables that affect partition coefficients and verification of activity models at high pressure and temperature in order to reduce the global uncertainty in multi-variable statistical models. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The birth and infancy of Earth was a time of profound differentiation involving massive internal reorganization into core, mantle and proto-crust, all within a few hundred million years of solar system formation (t0). Physical and isotopic evidence indicate that the formation of iron-rich cores generally occurred very early in planetesimals, the building blocks of proto-Earth, within about 3 million years of t0. The final stages of terrestrial planetary accretion involved violent and tremendously energetic giant impacts among core-segregated Mercury- to Mars-sized objects and planetary embryos. As a consequence of impact heating, the early Earth was at times partially or wholly molten, increasing the likelihood for high-pressure and high-temperature equilibration among core- and mantle-forming materials. The Earth''s silicate mantle harmoniously possesses abundance levels of the siderophile elements Ni and Co that can be reconciled by equilibration between iron alloy and silicate at conditions comparable to those expected for a deep magma ocean. Solidification of a deep magma ocean possibly involved crystal–melt segregation at high pressures, but subsequent convective stirring of the mantle could have largely erased nascent layering. However, primitive upper mantle rocks apparently have some nonchondritic major and trace element refractory lithophile element ratios that can be plausibly linked to early mantle differentiation of ultra-high-pressure mantle phases. The geochemical effects of crystal fractionation in a deep magma ocean are partly constrained by high-pressure experimentation. Comparison between compositional models for the primitive convecting mantle and bulk silicate Earth generally allows, and possibly favors, 10–15% total fractionation of a deep mantle assemblage comprised predominantly of Mg-perovskite and with minor but geochemically important amounts of Ca-perovskite and ferropericlase. Long-term isolation of such a crystal pile is generally consistent with isotopic constraints for time-integrated Sm/Nd and Lu/Hf ratios in the modern upper mantle and might account for the characteristics of some mantle isotope reservoirs. Although much remains to be learned about the earliest formative period in the Earth''s development, a convergence of theoretical, physical, isotopic and geochemical arguments is beginning to yield a self-consistent portrait of the infant Earth. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• Elastic properties of H-bearing Fe alloys were calculated using ab initio molecular dynamic simulations. • Superionic H-bearing alloys were found under inner-core conditions. • The hcp -Fe–Si–H alloys can explain the density and seismic velocities of the inner core. Geophysical and geochemical evidence suggests that Earth's core is predominantly made of iron (or iron-nickel alloy) with several percent of light elements. However, Earth's solid inner core transmits shear waves at a much lower velocity than expected from mineralogical models that are consistent with geochemical constraints. Here we investigate the effect of hydrogen on the elastic properties of iron and iron-silicon alloys using ab initio molecular dynamic simulations. We find that these H-bearing alloys maintain a superionic state under inner-core conditions and that their shear moduli exhibit a strong shear softening due to the superionic effect, with a corresponding reduction in V S. Several hcp -iron-silicon-hydrogen compositions can explain the observed density, V P , V S , and Poisson's ratio of the inner core simultaneously. Our results indicate that hydrogen is a significant component of the Earth's core, and that it may contain at least four ocean masses of water. This indicates that the Earth may have accreted wet and obtained its water from chondritic and/or nebular materials before or during core formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]