Abstract
An episode of extensive melting early in Earth's history has been postulated on several grounds, but is still controversial1–9. To investigate the effects of such a 'magma ocean', we have melted a mantle peridotite at conditions equivalent to those obtaining at the top of the lower mantle (25 GPa, 2,000–3,000 °C). As predicted10,11, MgSiO3-rich perovskite is the liquidus phase. A small amount of CaSiO3-rich perovskite12 was observed, and may be the second liquidus phase. Using the Mg/Si, Al/Si, Ca/Si and Ca/Al ratios as constraints, we show that primitive upper-mantle compositions1,13–15 can be derived from a chondritic source with a small degree of MgSiO3-perovskite fractionation (10–20 wt %).
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References
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Ito, E., Takahashi, E. Melting of peridotite at uppermost lower-mantle conditions. Nature 328, 514–517 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1038/328514a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/328514a0
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