Toward a mineral physics reference model for the Moon's core.

The physical properties of iron (Fe) at high pressure and high temperature are crucial for understanding the chemical composition, evolution, and dynamics of planetary interiors. Indeed, the inner structures of the telluric planets all share a similar layered nature: a central metallic core composed mostly of iron, surrounded by a silicate mantle, and a thin, chemically differentiated crust. To date, most studies of iron have focused on the hexagonal closed packed (hcp, or ε) phase, as ε-Fe is likely stable across the pressure and temperature conditions of Earth's core. However, at the more moderate pressures characteristic of the cores of smaller planetary bodies, such as the Moon, Mercury, or Mars, iron takes on a face-centered cubic (fcc, or γ) structure. Here we present compressional and shear wave sound velocity and density measurements of γ-Fe at high pressures and high temperatures, which are needed to develop accurate seismic models of planetary interiors. Our results indicate that the seismic velocities proposed for the Moon's inner core by a recent reanalysis of Apollo seismic data are well below those of γ-Fe. Our dataset thus provides strong constraints to seismic models of the lunar core and cores of small telluric planets. This allows us to propose a direct compositional and velocity model for the Moon's core.

Experimental evidence of superionic conduction in H2O ice.

Ionic conductivity and molar volume measurements were performed on H(2)O ice at high pressure (P) and temperature (T) in a resistive-heated diamond anvil cell. The conductivity data obtained at P = 20-62 GPa, T = 304-930 K are well fitted with a single Arrhenius equation. Isothermal volume measurements at T = 873 K, P = 30-101 GPa indicate that H(2)O ice undergoes phase transitions at P = 50 GPa and 53 GPa due to hydrogen-bond symmetrization. Combining these results, we suggest that the conduction mechanism does not change with pressure-induced hydrogen-bond symmetrization. Along the Arrhenius behavior of conductivity data, the experimental evidence for superionic conduction (>10(-1) S/cm) was found at T = 739 K, P = 56 GPa and T = 749 K, P = 62 GPa, which is significantly low temperature compared with earlier theoretical estimates resorted to the observation of a drastic rise of the melting curve. We infer that the sudden increase of the melting temperature is not related to the onset of superionic conduction, but is attributed to the phase change regarding to the symmetrization.

High-pressure melting experiments of Fe3S and a thermodynamic model of the Fe-S liquids for the Earth's core.

Melting experiments on Fe3S were conducted to 75 GPa and 2800 K in laser-heated and internally resistive-heated diamond anvil cells within-situx-ray diffraction and/or post-mortem textural observation. From the constrained melting curve, we assessed the thermal equation of state for Fe3S liquid. Then we constructed a thermodynamic model of melting of the system Fe-Fe3S including the eutectic relation under high pressures based on our new experimental data. The mixing properties of Fe-S liquids under high pressures were evaluated in order to account for existing experimental data on eutectic temperature. The results demonstrate that the mixing of Fe and S liquids are nonideal at any core pressure. The calculated sulphur content in eutectic point decreases with increasing pressure to 120 GPa and is fairly constant of 8 wt% at greater pressures. From the Gibbs free energy, we derived the parameters to calculate the crystallising point of an Fe-S core and its isentrope, and then we calculated the density and the longitudinal seismic wave velocity (Vp) of these liquids along each isentrope. While Fe3S liquid can account for the seismologically constrained density andVpprofiles over the outer core, the density of the precipitating phase is too low for the inner core. On the other hand, a hypothetical Fe-S liquid core with a bulk composition on the Fe-rich side of the eutectic point cannot represent the density andVpprofiles of the Earth's outer core. Therefore, Earth's core cannot be approximated by the system Fe-S and it should include another light element.

Carbon-depleted outer core revealed by sound velocity measurements of liquid iron-carbon alloy.

The relative abundance of light elements in the Earth's core has long been controversial. Recently, the presence of carbon in the core has been emphasized, because the density and sound velocities of the inner core may be consistent with solid Fe7C3. Here we report the longitudinal wave velocity of liquid Fe84C16 up to 70 GPa based on inelastic X-ray scattering measurements. We find the velocity to be substantially slower than that of solid iron and Fe3C and to be faster than that of liquid iron. The thermodynamic equation of state for liquid Fe84C16 is also obtained from the velocity data combined with previous density measurements at 1 bar. The longitudinal velocity of the outer core, about 4% faster than that of liquid iron, is consistent with the presence of 4-5 at.% carbon. However, that amount of carbon is too small to account for the outer core density deficit, suggesting that carbon cannot be a predominant light element in the core.