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Fe–Mg partitioning between post-perovskite and ferropericlase in the lowermost mantle

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Abstract

Fe–Mg partitioning between post-perovskite and ferropericlase has been studied using a laser-heated diamond anvil cell at pressures up to 154 GPa and 2,010 K which corresponds to the conditions in the lowermost mantle. The composition of the phases in the recovered samples was determined using analytical transmission electron microscopy. Our results reveal that the Fe–Mg partition coefficient between post-perovskite and ferropericlase (K PPv/FpD ) increases with decreasing bulk iron content. The compositional dependence of K PPv/FpD on the bulk iron content explains the inconsistency in previous studies, and the effect of the bulk iron content is the most dominant factor compared to other factors, such as temperature and aluminum content. Iron prefers ferropericlase compared to post-perovskite over a wide compositional range, whereas the iron content of post-perovskite (X PPvFe , the mole fraction) does not exceed a value of 0.10. The iron-rich ferropericlase phase may have significant influence on the physical properties, such as the seismic velocity and electrical conductivity at the core–mantle boundary region.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (Start-up) to T. S. (no. 19840007) and by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Researches to E. O. (No. 18104009) from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of the Japanese Government, and was conducted as a part of the Global Center-of-Excellence program “Global Education and Research Center for Earth and Planetary Dynamics”. This work was partly supported by the Nanotechnology Support Project of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. International Advanced Research and Education Organization, Tohoku University, Sendai, 980-8578, Japan

    Takeshi Sakai

  2. Institute of Mineralogy, Petrology and Economic Geology, Faculty of Science, Tohoku University, Sendai, 980-8578, Japan

    Takeshi Sakai, Eiji Ohtani, Hidenori Terasaki & Masaaki Miyahara

  3. Institute for Material Research, Tohoku University, Sendai, 980-8577, Japan

    Masahiko Nishijima

  4. Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute, Hyogo, 679-5198, Japan

    Naohisa Hirao & Yasuo Ohishi

  5. Institute for Frontier Research on Earth Evolution, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, Yokosuka, 237-0061, Japan

    Nagayoshi Sata

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  1. Takeshi Sakai
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  2. Eiji Ohtani
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  3. Hidenori Terasaki
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  4. Masaaki Miyahara
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Correspondence to Takeshi Sakai.

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Sakai, T., Ohtani, E., Terasaki, H. et al. Fe–Mg partitioning between post-perovskite and ferropericlase in the lowermost mantle. Phys Chem Minerals 37, 487–496 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00269-009-0349-4

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