Possible thermal and chemical stabilization of body-centred-cubic iron in the Earth's core

The nature of the stable phase of iron in the Earth's solid inner core is still highly controversial. Laboratory experiments suggest the possibility of an uncharacterized phase transformation in iron at core conditions and seismological observations have indicated the possible presence of complex, inner-core layering. Theoretical studies currently suggest that the hexagonal close packed (h.c.p.) phase of iron is stable at core pressures and that the body centred cubic (b.c.c.) phase of iron becomes elastically unstable at high pressure. In other h.c.p. metals, however, a high-pressure b.c.c. form has been found to become stabilized at high temperature. We report here a quantum mechanical study of b.c.c.-iron able to model its behaviour at core temperatures as well as pressures, using ab initio molecular dynamics free-energy calculations. We find that b.c.c.-iron indeed becomes entropically stabilized at core temperatures, but in its pure state h.c.p.-iron still remains thermodynamically more favourable. The inner core, however, is not pure iron, and our calculations indicate that the b.c.c. phase will be stabilized with respect to the h.c.p. phase by sulphur or silicon impurities in the core. Consequently, a b.c.c.-structured alloy may be a strong candidate for explaining the observed seismic complexity of the inner core.     

Melting of iron at the physical conditions of the Earth's core

Seismological data can yield physical properties of the Earth's core, such as its size and seismic anisotropy. A well-constrained iron phase diagram, however, is essential to determine the temperatures at core boundaries and the crystal structure of the solid inner core. To date, the iron phase diagram at high pressure has been investigated experimentally through both laser-heated diamond-anvil cell and shock-compression techniques, as well as through theoretical calculations. Despite these contributions, a consensus on the melt line or the high-pressure, high-temperature phase of iron is lacking. Here we report new and re-analysed sound velocity measurements of shock-compressed iron at Earth-core conditions. We show that melting starts at 225 +/- 3 GPa (5,100 +/- 500 K) and is complete at 260 +/- 3 GPa (6,100 +/- 500 K), both on the Hugoniot curve-the locus of shock-compressed states. This new melting pressure is lower than previously reported, and we find no evidence for a previously reported solid-solid phase transition on the Hugoniot curve near 200 GPa (ref. 16).     

Elasticity of iron at the temperature of the Earth's inner core.

Seismological body-wave and free-oscillation studies of the Earth's solid inner core have revealed that compressional waves traverse the inner core faster along near-polar paths than in the equatorial plane. Studies have also documented local deviations from this first-order pattern of anisotropy on length scales ranging from 1 to 1,000 km (refs 3, 4). These observations, together with reports of the differential rotation of the inner core, have generated considerable interest in the physical state and dynamics of the inner core, and in the structure and elasticity of its main constituent, iron, at appropriate conditions of pressure and temperature. Here we report first-principles calculations of the structure and elasticity of dense hexagonal close-packed (h.c.p.) iron at high temperatures. We find that the axial ratio c/a of h.c.p. iron increases substantially with increasing temperature, reaching a value of nearly 1.7 at a temperature of 5,700 K, where aggregate bulk and shear moduli match those of the inner core. As a consequence of the increasing c/a ratio, we have found that the single-crystal longitudinal anisotropy of h.c.p. iron at high temperature has the opposite sense from that at low temperature. By combining our results with a simple model of polycrystalline texture in the inner core, in which basal planes are partially aligned with the rotation axis, we can account for seismological observations of inner-core anisotropy.     

Constraints on the composition of the Earth's core from ab initio calculations

Knowledge of the composition of the Earth's core is important for understanding its melting point and therefore the temperature at the inner-core boundary and the temperature profile of the core and mantle. In addition, the partitioning of light elements between solid and liquid, as the outer core freezes at the inner-core boundary, is believed to drive compositional convection, which in turn generates the Earth's magnetic field. It is generally accepted that the liquid outer core and the solid inner core consist mainly of iron. The outer core, however, is also thought to contain a significant fraction of light elements, because its density--as deduced from seismological data and other measurements--is 6-10 per cent less than that estimated for pure liquid iron. Similar evidence indicates a smaller but still appreciable fraction of light elements in the inner core. The leading candidates for the light elements present in the core are sulphur, oxygen and silicon. Here we obtain a constraint on core composition derived from ab initio calculation of the chemical potentials of light elements dissolved in solid and liquid iron. We present results for the case of sulphur, which provide strong evidence against the proposal that the outer core is close to being a binary iron-sulphur mixture.     

地球内核物态热效应研究

 在考虑Grüneisen系数、Debye温度随体积变化的基础上,详细讨论了各部分热压的贡献,并且结合K-primed冷压方程,得到了地球内核较为全面的物态方程,分析了内核p-V-T的关系,给出了地球内核的温度分布.其结果详实有据,为以后深入研究地球内核甚至液态外核的物态性质提供了坚实的基础.     

ZnO岩盐结构熔化特性的分子动力学模拟

利用分子动力学方法和经验势模型对岩盐结构ZnO高压下的熔化特性进行了研究．对ZnO闪锌矿结构常压下的熔化进行模拟，发现存在过热熔化现象，通过与实验比较得到其过热48％的结论，然后利用该结论修正得到了ZnO岩盐结构0-50GPa的高压熔化相图．其中岩盐结构ZnO高压熔化曲线在压力低于7GPa时和由Lindemann熔化方程得到的结果符合很好．     

低渗储层全直径岩心对CO_2相变影响的实验研究

为了研究储层孔隙介质对CO2注入地层后相态的影响情况,建立了真实岩心中相变的超声波测试方法.对比CO2在低于临界温度26.0℃和高于临界温度48.0℃两种情况下,分别在超声波测试装置、空筒、DBRPVT分析装置中的相变情况.对比可以得出:①在临界温度以下,孔隙介质的存在对CO2相变点的影响不大;②临界温度以上时,孔隙介质的存在使CO2的p-V关系曲线的拐点值有比较大的降低,从空筒中测试的10.89 MPa降到5.51 MPa;③温度对CO2在孔隙介质中的p-V关系曲线的拐点的影响比较小;④超声波在测试孔隙介质中CO2的相变点时,振幅变化比较明显,时差的变化比较小.     

难熔金属钽、钼、钨的高温高压状态方程及声速的第一性原理研究

难熔金属的高压熔化曲线在动-静高压实验之间存在巨大争议,而在发生冲击熔化之前是否存在固-固相变是目前的研究热点问题.本文以3种典型难熔金属钽、钼、钨为例,通过第一性原理晶格动力学方法,计算了钽、钼、钨的声子色散曲线.采用准谐近似的方法,获得了Hugoniot状态方程以及Hugoniot声速.对于钽和钨的声速计算表明,其基态体心立方结构在高压下一直保持其稳定性;而钼的晶格动力学计算表明其基态结构的稳定性在高压下消失,而钼的Hugoniot声速在175–275GPa区域内发生了拐折,这一结果证实了冲击波实验中对于钼的声速测量的结果:在210GPa压力附近声速发生间断.     

一种计算高压下晶体熔点的方法

根据Lindemann定律和乘积(αBT)为常数的近似条件,提出了一种计算高压下晶体熔点的方法,并对LiF,NaCl和Al三种晶体在不同压强下的熔化温度进行了计算.结果表明,计算得到的熔化曲线与实验数据吻合较好.     

Evidence for an oxygen-depleted liquid outer core of the Earth

On the basis of geophysical observations, cosmochemical constraints, and high-pressure experimental data, the Earth's liquid outer core consists of mainly liquid iron alloyed with about ten per cent (by weight) of light elements. Although the concentrations of the light elements are small, they nevertheless affect the Earth's core: its rate of cooling, the growth of the inner core, the dynamics of core convection, and the evolution of the geodynamo. Several light elements-including sulphur, oxygen, silicon, carbon and hydrogen-have been suggested, but the precise identity of the light elements in the Earth's core is still unclear. Oxygen has been proposed as a major light element in the core on the basis of cosmochemical arguments and chemical reactions during accretion. Its presence in the core has direct implications for Earth accretion conditions of oxidation state, pressure and temperature. Here we report new shockwave data in the Fe-S-O system that are directly applicable to the outer core. The data include both density and sound velocity measurements, which we compare with the observed density and velocity profiles of the liquid outer core. The results show that we can rule out oxygen as a major light element in the liquid outer core because adding oxygen into liquid iron would not reproduce simultaneously the observed density and sound velocity profiles of the outer core. An oxygen-depleted core would imply a more reduced environment during early Earth accretion.     

A doubling of the post-perovskite phase boundary and structure of the Earth's lowermost mantle

The thermal structure of the Earth's lowermost mantle--the D' layer spanning depths of approximately 2,600-2,900 kilometres--is key to understanding the dynamical state and history of our planet. Earth's temperature profile (the geotherm) is mostly constrained by phase transitions, such as freezing at the inner-core boundary or changes in crystal structure within the solid mantle, that are detected as discontinuities in seismic wave speed and for which the pressure and temperature conditions can be constrained by experiment and theory. A recently discovered phase transition at pressures of the D' layer is ideally situated to reveal the thermal structure of the lowermost mantle, where no phase transitions were previously known to exist. Here we show that a pair of seismic discontinuities observed in some regions of D' can be explained by the same phase transition as the result of a double-crossing of the phase boundary by the geotherm at two different depths. This simple model can also explain why a seismic discontinuity is not observed in some other regions, and provides new constraints for the magnitude of temperature variations within D'.     

Iron-silica interaction at extreme conditions and the electrically conducting layer at the base of Earth's mantle

The boundary between the Earth's metallic core and its silicate mantle is characterized by strong lateral heterogeneity and sharp changes in density, seismic wave velocities, electrical conductivity and chemical composition. To investigate the composition and properties of the lowermost mantle, an understanding of the chemical reactions that take place between liquid iron and the complex Mg-Fe-Si-Al-oxides of the Earth's lower mantle is first required. Here we present a study of the interaction between iron and silica (SiO2) in electrically and laser-heated diamond anvil cells. In a multianvil apparatus at pressures up to 140 GPa and temperatures over 3,800 K we simulate conditions down to the core-mantle boundary. At high temperature and pressures below 40 GPa, iron and silica react to form iron oxide and an iron-silicon alloy, with up to 5 wt% silicon. At pressures of 85-140 GPa, however, iron and SiO2 do not react and iron-silicon alloys dissociate into almost pure iron and a CsCl-structured (B2) FeSi compound. Our experiments suggest that a metallic silicon-rich B2 phase, produced at the core-mantle boundary (owing to reactions between iron and silicate), could accumulate at the boundary between the mantle and core and explain the anomalously high electrical conductivity of this region.     

氯化钠结构相变和弹性性质的第一原理计算

基于第一性原理平面波赝势密度泛函方法，研究了NaCl的高压结构相变和弹性性质．计算结果表明，在零温下NaCl从B1结构到B2结构的相变压强为29．7GPa,这与实验值和其它的理论计算结果符合的很好．利用准谐德拜模型，讨论了NaCl在0-70GPa范围内下的德拜温度θ、压缩波速度Vp和剪切波速度Vs．     

Melting of the Earth's inner core

The Earth's magnetic field is generated by a dynamo in the liquid iron core, which convects in response to cooling of the overlying rocky mantle. The core freezes from the innermost surface outward, growing the solid inner core and releasing light elements that drive compositional convection. Mantle convection extracts heat from the core at a rate that has enormous lateral variations. Here we use geodynamo simulations to show that these variations are transferred to the inner-core boundary and can be large enough to cause heat to flow into the inner core. If this were to occur in the Earth, it would cause localized melting. Melting releases heavy liquid that could form the variable-composition layer suggested by an anomaly in seismic velocity in the 150 kilometres immediately above the inner-core boundary. This provides a very simple explanation of the existence of this layer, which otherwise requires additional assumptions such as locking of the inner core to the mantle, translation from its geopotential centre or convection with temperature equal to the solidus but with composition varying from the outer to the inner core. The predominantly narrow downwellings associated with freezing and broad upwellings associated with melting mean that the area of melting could be quite large despite the average dominance of freezing necessary to keep the dynamo going. Localized melting and freezing also provides a strong mechanism for creating seismic anomalies in the inner core itself, much stronger than the effects of variations in heat flow so far considered.     

高压下金属Mo熔化性质与其熔化结构的理论研究

本文采用分子动力学结合镶嵌原子势方法研究了高温高压下金属Mo的熔化性质.详细分析了Mo的熔化曲线并给出了熔化曲线T-P(温度-压强)方程,计算得到了Mo的等温压缩曲线和等压曲线.理论上获得Mo在常压下的平衡点温度为2695K,与其他实验和理论数据都符合的很好.同时我们还通过径向分布函数和HA指数研究了Mo在熔化过程中的结构变化情况.     

Core formation in planetesimals triggered by permeable flow

The tungsten isotope composition of meteorites indicates that core formation in planetesimals occurred within a few million years of Solar System formation. But core formation requires a mechanism for segregating metal, and the 'wetting' properties of molten iron alloy in an olivine-rich matrix is thought to preclude segregation by permeable flow unless the silicate itself is partially molten. Excess liquid metal over a percolation threshold, however, can potentially create permeability in a solid matrix, thereby permitting segregation. Here we report the percolation threshold for molten iron-sulphur compounds of approximately 5 vol.% in solid olivine, based on electrical conductivity measurements made in situ at high pressure and temperature. We conclude that heating within planetesimals by decay of short-lived radionuclides can increase temperature sufficiently above the iron-sulphur melting point (approximately 1,000 degrees C) to trigger segregation of iron alloy by permeable flow within the short timeframe indicated by tungsten isotopes. We infer that planetesimals with radii greater than about 30 km and larger planetary embryos are expected to have formed cores very early, and these objects would have contained much of the mass in the terrestrial region of the protoplanetary nebula. The Earth and other terrestrial planets are likely therefore to have formed by accretion of previously differentiated planetesimals, and Earth's core may accordingly be viewed as a blended composite of pre-formed cores.     

卸载熔化状态铁/蓝宝石界面温度测量及其相变动力学研究

本文主要是研究金属铁经历冲击-卸载到熔化压力区,其内部发生熔化相变时,铁/蓝宝石界面的辐亮度和温度随时间演化特性,发现辐亮度随时间持续增强而界面却经历了一个慢降温过程,该特征与无相变或瞬时相变的热传导模型结论不一致,即无熔化相变或瞬时相变时,界面温度是一个稳定值.本文结合熔化相变动力学模型与热传导方程对实验现象给出一种理论解释.模型计算所给出的温度历史与观测结果一致,由此可以校对其它测量或者计算熔化温度的方法和模型计算的结果,并能够初步限定出该压力下铁的熔化成核速率和径向长大速率.     

The plastic deformation of iron at pressures of the Earth's inner core

Soon after the discovery of seismic anisotropy in the Earth's inner core, it was suggested that crystal alignment attained during deformation might be responsible. Since then, several other mechanisms have been proposed to account for the observed anisotropy, but the lack of deformation experiments performed at the extreme pressure conditions corresponding to the solid inner core has limited our ability to determine which deformation mechanism applies to this region of the Earth. Here we determine directly the elastic and plastic deformation mechanism of iron at pressures of the Earth's core, from synchrotron X-ray diffraction measurements of iron, under imposed axial stress, in diamond-anvil cells. The epsilon-iron (hexagonally close packed) crystals display strong preferred orientation, with c-axes parallel to the axis of the diamond-anvil cell. Polycrystal plasticity theory predicts an alignment of c-axes parallel to the compression direction as a result of basal slip, if basal slip is either the primary or a secondary slip system. The experiments provide direct observations of deformation mechanisms that occur in the Earth's inner core, and introduce a method for investigating, within the laboratory, the rheology of materials at extreme pressures.     

Re-emerging superconductivity at 48 kelvin in iron chalcogenides

Pressure has an essential role in the production and control of superconductivity in iron-based superconductors. Substitution of a large cation by a smaller rare-earth ion to simulate the pressure effect has raised the superconducting transition temperature T(c) to a record high of 55?K in these materials. In the same way as T(c) exhibits a bell-shaped curve of dependence on chemical doping, pressure-tuned T(c) typically drops monotonically after passing the optimal pressure. Here we report that in the superconducting iron chalcogenides, a second superconducting phase suddenly re-emerges above 11.5?GPa, after the T(c) drops from the first maximum of 32?K at 1?GPa. The T(c) of the re-emerging superconducting phase is considerably higher than the first maximum, reaching 48.0-48.7?K for Tl(0.6)Rb(0.4)Fe(1.67)Se(2), K(0.8)Fe(1.7)Se(2) and K(0.8)Fe(1.78)Se(2).     

Water content in the transition zone from electrical conductivity of wadsleyite and ringwoodite

The distribution of water in the Earth's interior reflects the way in which the Earth has evolved, and has an important influence on its material properties. Minerals in the transition zone of the Earth's mantle (from approximately 410 to approximately 660 km depth) have large water solubility, and hence it is thought that the transition zone might act as a water reservoir. When the water content of the transition zone exceeds a critical value, upwelling flow might result in partial melting at approximately 410 km, which would affect the distribution of certain elements in the Earth. However, the amount of water in the transition zone has remained unknown. Here we determined the effects of water and temperature on the electrical conductivity of the minerals wadsleyite and ringwoodite to infer the water content of the transition zone. We find that the electrical conductivity of these minerals depends strongly on water content but only weakly on temperature. By comparing these results with geophysically inferred conductivity, we infer that the water content in the mantle transition zone varies regionally, but that its value in the Pacific is estimated to be approximately 0.1-0.2 wt%. These values significantly exceed the estimated critical water content in the upper mantle, suggesting that partial melting may indeed occur at approximately 410 km depth, at least in this region.