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Experiments on metal–silicate plumes and core formation

Short-lived isotope systematics, mantle siderophile abundances and the power requirements of the geodynamo favour an early and high-temperature core-formation process, in which metals concentrate and partially equilibrate with silicates in a deep magma ocean before descending to the core. We report results of laboratory experiments on liquid metal dynamics in a two-layer stratified viscous fluid, using sucrose solutions to represent the magma ocean and the crystalline, more primitive mantle and liquid gallium to represent the core-forming metals. Single gallium drop experiments and experiments on Rayleigh–Taylor instabilities with gallium layers and gallium mixtures produce metal diapirs that entrain the less viscous upper layer fluid and produce trailing plume conduits in the high-viscosity lower layer. Calculations indicate that viscous dissipation in metal–silicate plumes in the early Earth would result in a large initial core superheat. Our experiments suggest that metal–silicate mantle plumes facilitate high-pressure metal–silicate interaction and may later evolve into buoyant thermal plumes, connecting core formation to ancient hotspot activity on the Earth and possibly on other terrestrial planets.