What is it about?
Precious metals like gold and platinum do not exist in abundance. That is why they are called precious metals. But even such small abundances are very difficult to explain with the current theory of how Earth formed. Because these metals love to be with other metals so much, they should have been almost entirely contained in Earth's metallic core. This work provides a physically and chemically plausible solution to this long-standing conundrum.
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Why is it important?
This work connects short-term impact dynamics during planetary formation with long-term mantle dynamics, and by doing so, it provides natural explanations for the chemical composition of Earth's mantle as well as its deep structure. This means that very early processes can have prolonged influence on planetary evolution, and by the same token, the present-day Earth stills holds important clues for the processes that happened at the beginning of its history.
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Vestiges of impact-driven three-phase mixing in the chemistry and structure of Earth’s mantle, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, October 2023, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2309181120.
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