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Accretion of the Earth and segregation of its core

Author

Listed:
  • Bernard J. Wood

    (Macquarie University)

  • Michael J. Walter

    (University of Bristol)

  • Jonathan Wade

    (University of Bristol)

Abstract

The Earth took 30–40 million years to accrete from smaller ‘planetesimals’. Many of these planetesimals had metallic iron cores and during growth of the Earth this metal re-equilibrated with the Earth's silicate mantle, extracting siderophile (‘iron-loving’) elements into the Earth's iron-rich core. The current composition of the mantle indicates that much of the re-equilibration took place in a deep (> 400 km) molten silicate layer, or ‘magma ocean’, and that conditions became more oxidizing with time as the Earth grew. The high-pressure nature of the core-forming process led to the Earth's core being richer in low-atomic-number elements, notably silicon and possibly oxygen, than the cores of the smaller planetesimal building blocks.

Suggested Citation

  • Bernard J. Wood & Michael J. Walter & Jonathan Wade, 2006. "Accretion of the Earth and segregation of its core," Nature, Nature, vol. 441(7095), pages 825-833, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:441:y:2006:i:7095:d:10.1038_nature04763
    DOI: 10.1038/nature04763
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    Cited by:

    1. Ilya N. Bindeman & Dmitri A. Ionov & Peter M. E. Tollan & Alexander V. Golovin, 2022. "Oxygen isotope (δ18O, Δ′17O) insights into continental mantle evolution since the Archean," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.
    2. Yifan Tian & Peiyu Zhang & Wei Zhang & Xiaolei Feng & Simon A. T. Redfern & Hanyu Liu, 2024. "Iron alloys of volatile elements in the deep Earth’s interior," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-7, December.

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