📋 Tender Overview
Universal Model Of The Density Of Deep Silicate Melts
Funded Under
European Research Council (Erc)
Total Cost
€ 1 998 856,25
Eu Contribution
€ 1 998 856,00
Coordinated By
Helmholtz Zentrum Potsdam Deutsches Geoforschungszentrum Gfz
Germany
Objective
The starting conditions for the Earth’s evolution were set by gravitational differentiation in the solidifying magma ocean. Yet, a thorough understanding of the magma ocean dynamics and thus of the primordial Earth is lacking. One key unknown is the density of silicate melts at high pressure, which determines whether the crystallizing phases rise or sink. Magma density also governs the storage, spatial distribution, and migration of melts in the present-day Earth. Densities of silicate liquids at mantle pressures and temperatures are extremely difficult to measure because of the tiny sample size, melt chemical reactivity, and its lack of crystalline structure. The use of glasses as proxies of melts lifts some but not all of these challenges. Albeit needed for a holistic picture of planet Earth, no density systematics exists for glasses or melts across the pressure range of the entire mantle.
Glass2Melt will employ and further a novel class of fast white laser spectroscopy methods to measure the density of multicomponent synthetic silicate glasses and melts at mantle pressure-temperature conditions. Our approach is ground-breaking because it allows to thoroughly explore a large compositional space and determine the density of any deep silicate melt. Our results will (i) parametrize a universal silicate melt density model applicable to the entire mantle, and (ii) quantify solid-liquid buoyancy throughout the whole crystallizing magma ocean.
Glass2Melt will have a broad, lasting impact on our understanding of the Earth’s interior and its evolution over geologic time. The new density model will provide critical input for future numerical simulations assessing fundamental questions about the solidification of the primordial magma ocean, as well as the initiation and development of physical and chemical heterogeneity in the mantle. It will also be crucial for deciphering deep low seismic velocity structures, and to modeling magma dynamics in the present-day Earth.
