SOLUBILITY OF HYDROGEN AND CARBON IN REDUCED MAGMAS OF THE EARLY EARTH'S MANTLE

Abstract

The solubility of volatile compounds in magmas and the redox state of their mantle source are the main factors that control the transfer of volatile components from the planet's interior to its surface. In theories of the formation of the Earth, the composition of gases extracted by primary planetary magmas is accounted for by the large-scale melting of the early mantle in the presence of the metallic Fe phase [1, 2]. The fused metallic Fe phase and the melted silicate material experienced gravitational migration that exerted influence upon the formation of the metallic core of the planet. The large-scale melting of the early Earth should have been accompanied by the formation of volatile compounds, whose composition was controlled by the interaction of H and C with silicate and metallic melts, a process that remains largely unknown as of yet. © Pleiades Publishing, Inc. 2006.