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We have performed an experimental and modeling study of the partial melting behavior of the HED parent body and of the fractional crystallization of liquids derived from its mantle. We estimated the mantle composition by assuming chondritic ratios of refractory lithophile elements, adjusting the Mg# and core size to match the density and moment of inertia of Vesta, and the compositions of Mg-rich olivines found in diogenites. The liquidus of a mantle with Mg# (=100*(Mg/(Mg+Fe))) 80 is ~1625oC and, under equilibrium conditions the melt crystallises olivine alone until it is joined by orthopyroxene at 1350oC. We synthesized melt from our 1350oC experiment and simulated its fractional crystallization path. Orthopyroxene crystallizes until it is replaced by pigeonite at 1200oC. Liquids become eucritic and crystal assemblages resemble diogenites below 1250oC. MELTS correctly predicts the olivine liquidus but overestimates the orthopyroxene liquidus by ~70oC. Predicted melt compositions are in reasonable agreement with those generated experimentally. We used MELTS to determine that the range of mantle compositions that can produce eucritic liquids and diogenitic solids in a magma ocean model is Mg# 75-80 (with chondritic ratios of refractory elements). A mantle with Mg# ~ 70 can produce eucrites and diogenites through sequential partial melting., Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures, Published in MAPS

The concept of Late Veneer has been introduced by the geochemical community to explain the abundance of highly siderophile elements in the Earth's mantle and their chondritic proportions relative to each other. However, in the complex scenario of Earth accretion, involving both planetesimal bombardment and giant impacts from chondritic and differentiated projectiles, it is not obvious what the "Late Veneer" actually corresponds to. In fact, the process of differentiation of the Earth was probably intermittent and there was presumably no well-defined transition between an earlier phase where all metal sunk into the core and a later phase in which the core was a closed entity separated from the mantle. In addition, the modellers of Earth accretion have introduced the concept of "Late Accretion", which refers to the material accreted by our planet after the Moon-forming event. Characterising Late Veneer, Late Accretion and the relationship between the two is the major goal of this chapter., Comment: In press as a review chapter of the AGU Monograph "The Early Earth", J. Badro and M. Walter Eds