Hydrogen in Lower Mantle Minerals

液态水对生命至关重要，在太阳系和银河系其他地方寻找可居住的行星已经归结为寻找液态水可以存在的行星。地球是一个有水的行星，但是地球如何获得水是一个广泛争论、测量、实验和理论计算的主题。我们甚至对地球上有多少水都没有确切的限制，因为水的成分，氢原子和氧原子，被结合到地球内部的固体硅酸盐矿物中，经过漫长的地质时间，这些水可以与地表水库交换。这是一个实验研究项目，旨在测量氢在地球深处固体氧基硅酸盐矿物中的溶解度，以便对地球在这个占地球质量一半以上的地区可以容纳多少氢施加一些限制。这是一个合成和表征水合硅酸镁和氧化物相的项目，这些相被认为在600至2900公里深的下过渡带和下地幔中稳定存在。这项工作将主要与德国的科学家合作进行，但也包括其他欧盟国家和日本的科学家。对合成的高压矿物进行晶体结构、化学成分和氢含量分析。为了约束水化作用对地震速度的影响，将进行弹性测量。获得的数据应该能让我们更好地理解氢在地幔动力学中的关键作用，并进一步限制可能储存在行星内部的氢的数量。

Liquid water is essential to life, and the search for habitable planets within our solar system and elsewhere in the galaxy has come down to a search for planets on which liquid water can exist. Earth is a water planet, but how the Earth acquired its water is a subject of extensive debate, measurement, experiment, and theoretical calculation. We do not even have a solid constraint on how much water the Earth has, because the components of water, atoms of hydrogen and oxygen, are incorporated into the solid silicate minerals of the interior, and this water can be exchanged with the surface reservoir over the long stretch of geologic time. This is an experimental research project to measure the solubility of hydrogen in the solid, oxygen-based silicate minerals of the deep interior of the Earth in order to place some constraint on how much hydrogen the planet can harbor in this region which constitutes more than half the mass of the planet. This is a project to synthesize and characterize hydrous magnesium silicate and oxide phases thought to be stable in the lower transition zone and lower mantle at depths of 600 to 2900 km. The work is to be conducted in collaboration with scientists principally in Germany, but also in other EU countries and Japan. Synthesized high pressure minerals will be analyzed for crystal structure, chemical composition and hydrogen content. Measurements of elasticity will be made in order to constrain the effect of hydration on seismic velocity. The data obtained should permit a greater understanding of the crucial role of hydrogen in mantle dynamics and further constrain the amounts of hydrogen that may be stored in planetary interiors.