Back to Search
Start Over
A diamond-bearing core-mantle boundary on Mercury
- Source :
- Nature Communications, Vol 15, Iss 1, Pp 1-9 (2024)
- Publication Year :
- 2024
- Publisher :
- Nature Portfolio, 2024.
-
Abstract
- Abstract Abundant carbon was identified on Mercury by MESSENGER, which is interpreted as the remnant of a primordial graphite flotation crust, suggesting that the magma ocean and core were saturated in carbon. We re-evaluate carbon speciation in Mercury’s interior in light of the high pressure-temperature experiments, thermodynamic models and the most recent geophysical models of the internal structure of the planet. Although a sulfur-free melt would have been in the stability field of graphite, sulfur dissolution in the melt under the unique reduced conditions depressed the sulfur-rich liquidus to temperatures spanning the graphite-diamond transition. Here we show it is possible, though statistically unlikely, that diamond was stable in the magma ocean. However, the formation of a solid inner core caused diamond to crystallize from the cooling molten core and formation of a diamond layer becoming thicker with time.
- Subjects :
- Science
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 20411723
- Volume :
- 15
- Issue :
- 1
- Database :
- Directory of Open Access Journals
- Journal :
- Nature Communications
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- edsdoj.b2a343c81c594724a1bdc9633ea5dc62
- Document Type :
- article
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-49305-x