Premium
Melting experiment on a model chondritic mantle composition at 25 GPa
Author(s) -
Ohtani Eiji,
Sawamoto Hiroshi
Publication year - 1987
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/gl014i007p00733
Subject(s) - liquidus , mantle (geology) , silicate , geology , partial melting , chondrite , post perovskite , mineralogy , geochemistry , chemical composition , silicate perovskite , phase (matter) , thermodynamics , astrobiology , chemistry , meteorite , physics , organic chemistry
We have conducted melting experiments on a chondritic mantle composition in the five‐component system CaO‐FeO‐MgO‐Al 2 O 3 ‐SiO 2 at 25 GPa. The liquidus phase at this pressure is majorite garnet, and the second crystallizing phase is Mg‐silicate perovskite or magnesiowustite; these phases seem to be consumed into the melt at almost the same temperature. The present experiments indicate that majorite garnet fractionation might have occurred in the chondritic primitive mantle, if the partial molten zone extended to a depth equivalent to the upper part of the lower mantle in the early stages of terrestrial evolution.