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Melting of iron under core conditions
Author(s) -
Brown J. M.,
McQueen R. G.
Publication year - 1980
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/gl007i007p00533
Subject(s) - classification of discontinuities , discontinuity (linguistics) , shock (circulatory) , shock wave , shear (geology) , rarefaction (ecology) , materials science , thermodynamics , inner core , core (optical fiber) , mechanics , geology , composite material , physics , medicine , mathematical analysis , paleontology , mathematics , species richness
Melting in iron has been detected in shock wave experiments. Release wave velocities are determined using the overtaking rarefaction technique. Upon melting the shear modulus becomes zero leading to a decrease in the acoustic wave velocity behind the shock front. Two velocity discontinuities have been detected: (1) 200 ± 2 GPa at a calculated temperature of about 4000K and (2) 250 ± 10 GPa at a calculated temperature of about 5500‐6000K. The evidence indicates that the ε‐γ transition occurs at 200 GPa and that γ iron melts near 250 GPa along the iron Hugoniot.