Metal-Mantle Redraw (IMAGE)

Southwest Research Institute

Metal-Mantle Redraw

Caption

This schematic illustrates the most geophysically plausible explanation for the abundance of HSE metals present in the Earth’s mantle. During the long period of bombardment, impactors would strike the Earth and deliver materials. (a) Liquid metals would sink in the locally produced impact-generated magma ocean before percolating through the partially molten zone beneath. (b) Compression causes the metals in the molten zone to solidify and sink. (c) Then thermal convection mixes and redistributes the metal-impregnated mantle components over long geologic time frames.

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Southwest Research Institute

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