Noble Gas Partitioning Experiments at Mantle Pressures: Proof-of-Concept Study

地幔压力下的稀有气体分配实验：概念验证研究

• 批准号: NE/F010281/1
• 负责人: David Pearson
• 金额: $ 3.35万
• 依托单位: Durham University
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2008
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2008 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=NE%2FF010281%2F1
• 关键词: Noble; Gas; Partitioning; Experiments; Mantle

The Earth is a dynamic planet and its interior is constantly in motion. These motions are responsible for beneficial effects such as the magnetic field that protects us from deadly cosmic radiation and the production of the continents we live on, as well as hazards such as volcanoes and earthquakes. While observations of the present day Earth are increasingly detailed, these only tell us about today. Data on how the Earth's interior has changed over time is rare and indirect. Primarily it comes from looking at the geochemistry of samples derived from the Earth's interior. Each process in the mantle fractionates elements based upon the pressure and temperature of the process, the composition of the material and the element in question. The noble gases (He, Ne, Ar, Kr, Xe) have unique chemical properties that make them particularly powerful for understanding the evolution of the Earth. Correctly interpreting the noble gas record requires that one quantify the chemical behaviour of noble gases at the high pressures and temperatures that exist in the Earth's interior. Primarily such information comes from laboratory experiments that reproduce the conditions within the Earth. However, due to difficulties with both the experiments and analyses, such data has not been produced for noble gases. Lacking any direct observational data, our current interpretation of noble gases is completely based upon theoretical assumptions and could well be largely, or entirely, incorrect. Recent advances in both experimental and analytical technology now make noble gas studies at high pressure feasible. The current proposal is to develop the techniques to make the first reliable noble gas partitioning measurements at high pressures in order to shed light on the noble gas geochemical record and the history of the Earth's internal motions.

地球是一个动态的行星，它的内部一直在运动。这些运动产生了一些有益的影响，比如磁场，它保护我们免受致命的宇宙辐射的伤害，以及我们所居住的大陆的生产，以及火山和地震等危险。虽然对当今地球的观测越来越详细，但这些观测只能告诉我们今天的情况。关于地球内部如何随时间变化的数据很少，而且是间接的。它主要来自于对地球内部样本的地球化学分析。地幔中的每一个过程都根据过程的压力和温度、物质的组成和所讨论的元素来分出元素。稀有气体（He, Ne, Ar, Kr, Xe）具有独特的化学性质，这使得它们对了解地球的演化特别有帮助。正确地解释稀有气体的记录需要对存在于地球内部的高压和高温下的稀有气体的化学行为进行量化。这些信息主要来自重现地球内部情况的实验室实验。然而，由于实验和分析方面的困难，还没有产生惰性气体的这种数据。由于缺乏任何直接的观测数据，我们目前对惰性气体的解释完全基于理论假设，很可能在很大程度上或完全不正确。实验和分析技术的最新进展使得在高压下研究稀有气体成为可能。目前的建议是开发技术，在高压下进行第一次可靠的稀有气体分配测量，以阐明稀有气体的地球化学记录和地球内部运动的历史。