Partitioning of noble gases, siderophile and radioactive elements between silicates and iron alloys at core-mantle differentiation conditions.

地球的吸积是一系列剧烈的事件，主要是在不断增长的行星上增加物体。在吸积的后期阶段，这些碰撞沉积了足够的能量，至少部分融化了地球。结果就是一片岩浆海洋。金属下沉通过这片岩浆海洋，并在其底部形成积水，大致相当于目前上地幔底部的深度，然后通过下地幔到达行星中心。然而，许多关于核幔分异的问题仍然是开放的和有争议的。我们将在实验室中产生地球金属核心从深岩浆海洋中分离的实际条件，第一次在激光加热的金刚石砧室中接近地球核幔边界的最高可能压力。这些新方法超过了大多数实验的P，T限制。该项目涉及与国家和国际研究人员的密切合作，并将为地球的形成和核心的组成提供新的见解。这些实验将对一系列亲铁（喜金属）和放射性元素以及原型硅酸盐成分进行。最重要的是，我们将解决惰性气体，如氦，氩和氙在金属和硅酸盐在这些极端条件下的行为和溶解度。由于稀有气体是地球深部目前状态的基本诊断，我们的工作将有助于直接了解整个地球演化过程中的核幔交换过程。

The accretion of the Earth was a violent series of events dominated by the addition of objects to the growing planet. During the later stages of accretion, these collisions deposited enough energy to at least partly melt the Earth. The result was an ocean of magma. Metal sank through this magma ocean and ponded at its base at roughly the depth of the base of the current upper mantle before transiting through the lower mantle to the center of planet. However, many of the questions about the core-mantle differentiation are still open and much debated. We will generate in the laboratory the actual conditions of the segregation of Earth's metal core from a deep magma ocean for the first time to the highest possible pressures approaching the core-mantle boundary of the Earth in the laser-heated diamond anvil cell. These new methods exceed the P, T limits of most experiments. The project involves close collaboration with national and international researchers, and will provide new insight into the formation of the Earth and composition of the core. The experiments will be conducted on a range of siderophile (metal-loving) and radioactive elements and proto-typical silicate compositions. Most importantly, we will address the behaviour and solubility of noble gases like helium, argon and xenon in metal and silicates at these extreme conditions. Because the rare gases are a fundamental diagnostic of the present state of the Earth's deep interior, our work will contribute to a direct understanding of core-mantle exchange processes throughout Earth evolution.