Abstract
The possibility of dissolution of hydrogen in the Earth's core through the reaction Fe+H2O→FeO+FeHx was noted by Stevenson1, but has since been largely disregarded because the solubility of H in Fe was thought to be too low and the volatility of H2O too high to deserve serious consideration2. However, a recent paper3 from this laboratory showed that the solubility of H in Fe is very large at high pressures, and that H could indeed be a major cause of the density deficit of the Earth's outer core. In this paper I demonstrate, by investigating the nature of the iron–water reaction in more detail in light of recent advances in the knowledge of impact dehydration of planetesimals in the accretion process, that the iron–water reaction may well have played a decisive role in the evolution of the Earth.
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Fukai, Y. The iron–water reaction and the evolution of the Earth. Nature 308, 174–175 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1038/308174a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/308174a0
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