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Magma oceans were once ubiquitous in the early solar system, setting up the initial conditions for different evolutionary paths of planetary bodies. In particular, the redox conditions of magma oceans may have profound influence on the redox state of subsequently formed mantles and the overlying atmospheres. The relevant redox buffering reactions, however, remain poorly constrained. Using first-principles simulations combined with thermodynamic modeling, we show that magma oceans of Earth, Mars, and the Moon are likely characterized with a vertical gradient in oxygen fugacity with deeper magma oceans invoking more oxidizing surface conditions. This redox zonation may be the major cause for the Earth’s upper mantle being more oxidized than Mars’ and the Moon’s. These contrasting redox profiles also suggest that Earth’s early atmosphere was dominated by CO₂and H₂O, in contrast to those enriched in H₂O and H₂for Mars, and H₂and CO for the Moon.

 

Density of silicate melt dictates melt migration and establishes the gross structure of Earth's interior. However, due to technical challenges, the melt density of relevant compositions is poorly known at deep mantle conditions. Particularly, water may be dissolved in such melts in large amounts and can potentially affect their density at extreme pressure and temperature conditions. Here we perform first‐principles molecular dynamics simulations to evaluate the density of Fe‐rich, eutectic‐like silicate melt (Emelt) with varying water content up to about 12 wt %. Our results show that water mixes nearly ideally with the nonvolatile component in silicate melt and can decrease the melt density significantly. They also suggest that hydrous melts can be gravitationally stable in the lowermost mantle given its likely high iron content, providing a mechanism to explain seismically slow and dense layers near the core‐mantle boundary.

 

Abstract Grain boundaries in mantle minerals are of critical importance to geophysical and geochemical processes of the Earth’s interior. One of the fundamental issues is to understand how the water (H2O) component influences the properties of grain boundaries in silicate materials. Here, we report the results of the structure and stability of several tilt grain boundaries in Mg2SiO4 forsterite over the pressure range 0 to 15 GPa using density functional theory-based first-principles simulations. The results suggest greater energetic stability and hydration-driven volume collapse (negative excess volume) at zero pressure for the majority of hydrous grain boundaries relative to the anhydrous (dry) ones. All the hydrous grain boundaries become increasingly favorable at elevated pressures as the calculated hydration enthalpy systematically decreases with increasing pressure. The hydrous components at the interfacial regions are predominantly in the hydroxyl form and, to a lesser extent, in the molecular H2O form. Their calculated ratio ranges from 1.6 to 8.7 among the different grain boundary configurations. Our structural analysis also reveals that the hydroxyls are bound to either both Mg and Si or to Mg only. In comparison, the molecular species are bound only to Mg sites. Besides direct oxygen-hydrogen bonding, intermolecular hydrogen bonding becomes important with compression. On the basis of our results, we suggest that local atomic rearrangements caused by dissociative adsorption of water facilitate efficient compaction of the boundary interfaces, which, in turn, results in greater relative stability of hydrous grain boundaries. This means that water prefers to be incorporated within the grain boundaries over the bulk of silicate materials. 

Volatiles including carbon and hydrogen are generally considered to be more soluble in silicate melts than in mantle rocks. How these melts contribute to the storage and distribution of key volatiles in Earth's interior today and during its early evolution, however, remains largely unknown. It is essential to improve our knowledge about volatiles-bearing silicate magmas over the entire mantle pressure regime. Here we investigate molten Mg FexSiO3 ( , 0.25) containing both carbon and hydrogen using first-principles molecular dynamics simulations. Our results show that the dissolution mechanism of the binary volatiles in melts varies considerably under different conditions of pressure and redox. When incorporated as CO2 and H2O components (corresponding to oxidizing conditions) almost all carbon and hydrogen form bonds with oxygen. Their speciation at low pressure consists of predominantly isolated molecular CO2, carbonates, and hydroxyls. More oxygenated species, including tetrahedrally coordinated carbons, hydrogen (O-H-O) bridges, various oxygen-joined complexes appear as melt is further compressed. When two volatiles are incorporated as hydrocarbons CH4 and C2H6 (corresponding to reducing conditions), hydroxyls are prevalent with notable presence of molecular hydrogen. Carbon-oxygen bonding is almost completely suppressed. Instead carbon is directly correlated with itself, hydrogen, and silicon. Both volatiles also show strong affinity to iron. Reduced volatile speciation thus involves polymerized complexes comprising of carbon, hydrogen, silicon, and iron, which can be mostly represented by two forms: C1−4H1−5Si0−5O0−2 (iron-free) and C5−8H1−8Si0−6Fe5−8O0−2. The calculated partial molar volumes of binary volatiles in their oxidized and reduced incorporation decrease rapidly initially with pressure and then gradually at higher pressures, thereby systematically lowering silicate melt density. Our assessment of the calculated opposite effects of the volatile components and iron on melt density indicates that melt-crystal density crossovers are possible in the present-day mantle and also could have occurred in early magma ocean environments. Melts at upper mantle and transition zone conditions likely dissolve carbon and hydrogen in a wide variety of oxidized and non-oxygenated forms. Deep-seated partial melts and magma ocean remnants at lower mantle conditions may exsolve carbon as complex reduced species possibly to the core during core-mantle differentiation while retaining a majority of hydrogen as hydroxyls-associated species. 

Diffusional isotope fractionation occurs in geochemical processes (such as magma mixing, bubble growth, and crystal growth), even at magmatic temperatures. Isotopic mass dependence of diffusion is commonly expressed as Di Dj ¼ mj mi
 b , where Di and Dj are diffusion coefficients of two isotopes whose masses are mi and mj. How the dimensionless empirical parameter b depends on temperature, pressure, and composition remains poorly constrained. Here, we conducted a series of first-principles molecular dynamics simulations to evaluate the b factor of Mg isotopes in MgSiO3 and Mg2SiO4 melts using pseudo-isotope method. In particular, we considered interactions between Mg isotopes by simultaneously putting pseudo-mass and normalmass Mg atoms in a simulation supercell. The calculated b for Mg isotopes decreases linearly with decreasing temperature at zero pressure, from 0:158  0:004 at 4000 K to 0:121  0:017 at 2200 K for MgSiO3 melt and from 0:150  0:004 at 4000 K to 0:101  0:012 at 2200 K for Mg2SiO4 melt. Moreover, our simulations of compressed Mg2SiO4 melt along the 3000 K isotherm show that the b value decreases linearly from 0:130  0:006 at 0 GPa to 0:060  0:011 at 17 GPa. Based on our diffusivity results, the empirically established positive correlation between b and solvent-normalized diffusivity (Di/DSi) seems to be applicable only at constant temperatures or in narrow temperature ranges. Analysis of atomistic mechanisms suggests that the calculated b values are inversely correlated with force constants of Mg at a given temperature or pressure. Good agreement between our first principles results with available experimental data suggests that interactions between isotopes of major elements must be considered in calculating b for major elements in silicate melts. Also, we discuss diffusion-controlled crystal growth by considering our calculated b values. 

Seismic observations suggest that the uppermost region of Earth’s liquid outer core is buoyant, with slower velocities than the bulk outer core. One possible mechanism for the formation of a stably stratified layer is immiscibility in molten iron alloy systems, which has yet to be demonstrated at core pressures. We find immisci- bility between liquid Fe-Si and Fe-Si-O persisting to at least 140 GPa through a combination of laser-heated diamond-anvil cell experiments and first-principles molecular dynamics simulations. High-pressure immiscibility in the Fe-Si-O system may explain a stratified layer atop the outer core, complicate differentiation and evolution of the deep Earth, and affect the structure and intensity of Earth’s magnetic field. Our results support silicon and oxy- gen as coexisting light elements in the core and suggest that SiO2 does not crystallize out of molten Fe-Si-O at the core-mantle boundary. 

Pyrite-type FeO2Hx (P phase) has recently been suggested as a possible explanation for ultra-low velocity zones (ULVZs) due to its low seismic velocity and high density. Here we report the results on the congruent melting temperature and melt properties of P phase at high pressures from first-principles molecular dynamics simulations. The results show that P phase would likely be melted near the core-mantle boundary. Liquid FeO2Hx has smaller density and smaller bulk sound velocity compared to the isochemical P phase. As such, small amounts of liquid FeO2Hx could account for the observed seismic anomaly of ULVZs. However, to maintain the liquid FeO2Hx within the ULVZs against compaction requires special physical conditions, such as relatively high viscosity of the solid matrix and/or vigorous convection of the overlying mantle. 

Pyrite‐type FeO2Hx (P phase) has recently been suggested as a possible alternative to explain ultralow‐velocity zones due to its low seismic velocity and high density. Here we report the results on the congruent melting temperature and melt properties of P phase at high pressures from first‐principles molecular dynamics simulations. The results show that P phase would likely be melted near the core–mantle boundary. Liquid FeO2Hx has smaller density and smaller bulk sound velocity compared to the isochemical P phase. As such, relatively small amounts of liquid FeO2Hx could account for the observed seismic anomaly of ultralow‐velocity zones. However, to maintain the liquid FeO2Hx within the ultralow‐velocity zones against compaction requires special physical conditions, such as relatively high viscosity of the solid matrix and/or vigorous convection of the overlying mantle.