Name: simulation of the planetary interior differentiation processes in the laboratory
Uploaded: 2013-11-15T17:30:00
Description: Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Simulation of the Planetary Interior Differentiation Processes in the Laboratory at JoVE.com

This work was supported by NASA grant NNX11AC68G and the Carnegie Institution of Washington. I thank Chi Zhang for his assistance with data collection. I also thank Anat Shahar and Valerie Hillgren for helpful reviews of this manuscript.

1. Prepare Starting Materials and Sample Chambers
<ol>
	<li>Prepare two types of starting materials, (1) a mixture of natural silicate olivine and metallic iron powder with 10 wt% sulfur (metal/silicate ratios ranging from 4 to 30 wt%) for simulating percolation of liquid iron alloy in a solid silicate matrix during the initial core formation of a small planetary body, and (2) a homogeneous mixture of finely-grounded pure iron and iron sulfide for determining the planetary inner core crystallization.</li>
	<li>Grind th...

<ol>
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The techniques for the multi-anvil experiments are well established, generating stable pressure and temperature for an extended period of run time and producing relatively large sample volume. It is a powerful tool to simulate the interior processes of planets, especially for experiments, such as melt percolation, that require certain sample volume. The limitation is the maximum achievable pressure, up to 27 GPa with tungsten carbide (WC) anvils, reaching the core pressures of Mars and Mercury, but far too low pressure t...

Terrestrial planets such as the Earth, Venus, Mars, and Mercury are differentiated planetary bodies consisting of a silicate mantle and a metallic core. The modern planet formation model suggests that the terrestrial planets were formed from collisions of Moon-to-Mars-sized planetary embryos grown from km-sized or larger planetesimals through gravitational interactions1-2. The planetesimals were likely differentiated already once the metallic iron alloys reached melting temperature due to heating from sources such as radioactive decay of short-lived isotopes such as 26Al and 60Fe, impact, and release of potential energy3. It is important to understand how the liquid metal percolated through a silicate matrix during the early differentiation.
Planet differentiation could proceed through efficient liquid-liquid separation or by percolation of liquid metal in a solid silicate matrix, depending on the size and interior temperature of the planetary bodies. The percolation of liquid metal in the solid silicate matrix is likely a dominant process in the initial differentiation when the temperature is not high enough to melt the entire planetary body. The efficiency of percolation depends on the dihedral angle, determined by the interfacial energies of the solid-solid and solid-liquid interfaces. We can simulate this process in the laboratory by conducting high-pressure and high-temperature experiments on a mixture of iron alloy and silicate. Recent studies4-7&#160;have investigated the wetting ability of liquid iron alloys in a solid silicate matrix at high pressure and temperature. They used a conventional method to measure the relative frequency distributions of apparent dihedral angles between the quenched liquid metal and silicate grains on the polished cross-sections for determination of the true dihedral angle. The conventional method yields relatively large uncertainties in the measured dihedral angle and possible bias depending on the sampling statistics. Here we present a new imaging technique to visualize the distribution of liquid metal in the silicate matrix in three dimensions (3D) by combination of FIB milling and high-resolution field-emission SEM imaging. The new imaging technique provides precise determination of the dihedral angle and quantitative measure of the volume fraction and connectivity of the liquid phase.
The Earth&#39;s core was formed in a relatively short time (&#60;100 million years)8, presumably in a liquid state at its early history. Mars and Mercury also have liquid cores based on solar tidal deformation from the Mars Global Surveyor radio tracking data9&#160;and radar speckle patterns tied to the planetary rotation10, respectively. Thermal evolution models and high-pressure melting experiments on core materials further support a liquid Martian core11-12. Recent Messenger spacecraft data provide additional evidence for a liquid core of Mercury13. Even the small Moon likely has a small liquid core based on recent reanalysis of Appollo lunar seismograms14. Liquid planetary cores are consistent with high accretion energy at the early stage of planet formation. Subsequent cooling may lead to formation of solid inner core for some planets. Seismic data have revealed that the Earth consists of a liquid outer core and a solid inner core. The formation of the inner core has important implications for the dynamics of the core driven by thermal and compositional convections and the generation of the magnetic field of the planet.
Solidification of the inner core is controlled by the melting temperature of core materials and the thermal evolution of the core. Core formation of terrestrial planets shared similar accretion paths and the chemical composition of the cores is considered to be dominated by iron with about 10 weight % light elements such as sulfur (S), silicon (Si), oxygen (O), carbon (C), and hydrogen (H)15. It is essential to have knowledge of the melting relations in the systems relevant to the core, such as Fe-FeS, Fe-C, Fe-FeO, Fe-FeH, and Fe-FeSiat high pressure, in order to understand the composition of the planetary cores. In this study, we will demonstrate experiments conducted in the multi-anvil device and diamond-anvil cell, mimicking the conditions of the planetary cores. The experiments provide information on the crystallization sequence and element partitioning between solid and liquid metal, leading to a better understanding for the requirements of the inner core crystallization and the distribution of light elements between the crystalline inner core and liquid out core. To extend the melting relationships to very high pressures, we have developed new techniques to analyze the quenched samples recovered from laser-heated diamond-anvil cell experiments. With precision FIB milling of the laser-heating spot, we determine melting using quenching texture criteria imaged with high-resolution SEM and quantitative chemical analysis with a silicon drift detector at submicron spatial resolution.
Here we outline two sets of experiments to mimic planetary core formation by percolation of metallic melt in silicate matrix during early accretion and inner core crystallization by subsequent cooling. The simulation is aimed to understand the two important processes during the evolution of planetary core.

<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="352">
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	<tbody> 
		<tr height="43" style="height:32.25pt">
			<td class="xl63" height="43" style="height:32.25pt;width:66pt" width="88">Multi-anvil apparatus</td>
			<td class="xl63" style="border-left:none;width:66pt" width="88">Geophysical Lab</td>
			<td class="xl63" style="border-left:none;width:66pt" width="88">Home Builder</td>
			<td class="xl63" style="border-left:none;width:66pt" width="88"> </td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="43" style="height:32.25pt">
			<td class="xl63" height="43" style="height:32.25pt;border-top:none;
 width:66pt" width="88">Diamond-anvil cell</td>
			<td class="xl63" style="border-top:none;border-left:none;width:66pt" width="88">Geophysical Lab</td>
			<td class="xl63" style="border-top:none;border-left:none;width:66pt" width="88">Home Builder</td>
			<td class="xl63" style="border-top:none;border-left:none;width:66pt" width="88"> </td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="64" style="height:48.0pt">
			<td class="xl63" height="64" style="height:48.0pt;border-top:none;
 width:66pt" width="88">Laser-heating system</td>
			<td class="xl63" style="border-top:none;border-left:none;width:66pt" width="88">APS GSECARS</td>
			<td class="xl63" style="border-top:none;border-left:none;width:66pt" width="88">Designed by beamline staff</td>
			<td class="xl63" style="border-top:none;border-left:none;width:66pt" width="88"> Public beamline</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="43" style="height:32.25pt">
			<td class="xl63" height="43" style="height:32.25pt;border-top:none;
 width:66pt" width="88">FIB/SEM Crossbeam</td>
			<td class="xl63" style="border-top:none;border-left:none;width:66pt" width="88">Carl Zeiss Ltd.</td>
			<td class="xl63" style="border-top:none;border-left:none;width:66pt" width="88">Auriga</td>
			<td class="xl63" style="border-top:none;border-left:none;width:66pt" width="88"> </td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="64" style="height:48.0pt">
			<td class="xl63" height="64" style="height:48.0pt;border-top:none;
 width:66pt" width="88">Avizo 3D software</td>
			<td class="xl63" style="border-top:none;border-left:none;width:66pt" width="88">VSG</td>
			<td class="xl63" style="border-top:none;border-left:none;width:66pt" width="88">Fire for materials science</td>
			<td class="xl63" style="border-top:none;border-left:none;width:66pt" width="88"> </td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

simulation of the planetary interior differentiation processes in the laboratory

A planetary interior is under high-pressure and high-temperature conditions and it has a layered structure. There are two important processes that led to that layered structure, (1) percolation of liquid metal in a solid silicate matrix by planet differentiation, and (2) inner core crystallization by subsequent planet cooling. We conduct high-pressure and high-temperature experiments to simulate both processes in the laboratory. Formation of percolative planetary core depends on the efficiency of melt percolation, which is controlled by the dihedral (wetting) angle. The percolation simulation includes heating the sample at high pressure to a target temperature at which iron-sulfur alloy is molten while the silicate remains solid, and then determining the true dihedral angle to evaluate the style of liquid migration in a crystalline matrix by 3D visualization. The 3D volume rendering is achieved by slicing the recovered sample with a focused ion beam (FIB) and taking SEM image of each slice with a FIB/SEM crossbeam instrument. The second set of experiments is designed to understand the inner core crystallization and element distribution between the liquid outer core and solid inner core by determining the melting temperature and element partitioning at high pressure. The melting experiments are conducted in the multi-anvil apparatus up to 27 GPa and extended to higher pressure in the diamond-anvil cell with laser-heating. We have developed techniques to recover small heated samples by precision FIB milling and obtain high-resolution images of the laser-heated spot that show melting texture at high pressure. By analyzing the chemical compositions of the coexisting liquid and solid phases, we precisely determine the liquidus curve, providing necessary data to understand the inner core crystallization process.

We have conducted a series of experiments using mixtures of San Carlos olivine and Fe-FeS metal alloy with different metal-silicate ratios, as the starting materials. The S content of the metal is 10 weight % S. Here we show some representative results from high-pressure experiments performed at 6 GPa and 1,800 &#176;C, using well-calibrated multi-anvil assemblies15. Under the experimental conditions, the Fe-FeS metal alloy is completely molten and the silicate (San Carlos olivine) remains crystalline. The pur...

Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Simulation of the Planetary Interior Differentiation Processes in the Laboratory at JoVE.com

Simulation of the Planetary Interior Differentiation Processes in the Laboratory

The high-pressure and high-temperature experiments described here mimic planet interior differentiation processes. The processes are visualized and better understood by high-resolution 3D imaging and quantitative chemical analysis.

A planetary interior is under high-pressure and high-temperature conditions and it has a layered structure. There are two important processes that led to ...

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