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Is Mercury a volatile‐rich planet?
Author(s) -
McCubbin Francis M.,
Riner Miriam A.,
Vander Kaaden Kathleen E.,
Burkemper Laura K.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2012gl051711
Subject(s) - mercury (programming language) , astrobiology , silicate , planet , mineral redox buffer , outgassing , geology , mineralogy , environmental science , geochemistry , physics , mantle (geology) , astronomy , computer science , programming language
Data returned from the gamma‐ray spectrometer onboard the Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft have been interpreted to say that Mercury is a volatile‐rich planet (elevated K/Th and K/U), which is important given its heliocentric distance. The MESSENGER X‐ray spectrometer provided chemical information from the surface of Mercury which we used to calculate an average surface composition for the regions analyzed. The high S abundance and low FeO abundance of the surface indicates that the oxygen fugacity of the Mercurian interior is very reducing (−6.3 to −2.6 log f O2 units below the iron‐wüstite buffer). At these low oxygen fugacities, elements that are typically considered lithophile can become more siderophile or chalcophile. We review available metal/silicate partitioning data for K and U to show that Mercury's volatile inventory is still an open question, and additional experiments investigating metal/silicate partitioning at the conditions of Mercury's core formation are needed.