TY - JOUR
T1 - Melting of a model chondritic mantle to 20 GPa
AU - Ohtani, Eiji
AU - Kato, Takumi
AU - Sawamoto, Hiroshi
N1 - Copyright:
Copyright 2007 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 1986
Y1 - 1986
N2 - Calculations of the sthermal evolution of the Earth during accretion suggest that the outer layer may once have been molten, perhaps to a depth of 1,000 km or more1,2. If such global melting did occur, fractionation processes could have produced a chemical stratification in the mantle. Recent technical developments in experimental petrology have made it possible to achieve temperatures in excess of 2,000°C at a pressure of 20 GPa 3,4, thereby permitting studies of multi-component systems under conditions that prevail in the Earth's mantle. We have conducted melting experiments using a composition in the five-component system CaO-FeO-MgO-Al 2O3-SiO2 (CFMAS) corresponding to a model chondritic mantle, and find that the liquidus phase changes from olivine to majorite at a pressure between 12 and 15 GPa. The liquid coexisting with majorite at 20 GPa has a peridotitic composition. In addition, because the CaO/A12O3 ratio of the liquidus majorite at 20 GPa is lower than that of the sub-solidus majorite, partial melting and majorite fractionation at the base of the upper mantle could produce a peridotitic liquid with a CaO/A12O3 ratio greater than that of the chondritic starting material, consistent with current views on mantle geochemistry.
AB - Calculations of the sthermal evolution of the Earth during accretion suggest that the outer layer may once have been molten, perhaps to a depth of 1,000 km or more1,2. If such global melting did occur, fractionation processes could have produced a chemical stratification in the mantle. Recent technical developments in experimental petrology have made it possible to achieve temperatures in excess of 2,000°C at a pressure of 20 GPa 3,4, thereby permitting studies of multi-component systems under conditions that prevail in the Earth's mantle. We have conducted melting experiments using a composition in the five-component system CaO-FeO-MgO-Al 2O3-SiO2 (CFMAS) corresponding to a model chondritic mantle, and find that the liquidus phase changes from olivine to majorite at a pressure between 12 and 15 GPa. The liquid coexisting with majorite at 20 GPa has a peridotitic composition. In addition, because the CaO/A12O3 ratio of the liquidus majorite at 20 GPa is lower than that of the sub-solidus majorite, partial melting and majorite fractionation at the base of the upper mantle could produce a peridotitic liquid with a CaO/A12O3 ratio greater than that of the chondritic starting material, consistent with current views on mantle geochemistry.
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U2 - 10.1038/322352a0
DO - 10.1038/322352a0
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0022926690
SN - 0028-0836
VL - 322
SP - 352
EP - 353
JO - Nature
JF - Nature
IS - 6077
ER -