Mercury, the closest planet to our Sun, is one of the least understood planets in the Solar System. On the one hand, it is similar in composition to Earth and other rocky planets, with silicate minerals and metals varying between the silicate crust and mantle and the iron-nickel core. But unlike other rocky planets, Mercury’s core makes up the largest part of its mass. Mercury also has a mysterious permanent magnetic field that scientists have yet to explain. In this respect, Mercury is one of the most interesting planets in the solar system.
But according to new research, Mercury could be more interesting than previously thought. Based on new simulations of Mercury’s early evolution, a team of Chinese and Belgian geologists has found evidence that Mercury may have a layer of solid diamond beneath its crust. According to their simulations, this layer is 15 km (9 mi) thick, sandwiched between the core and mantle hundreds of miles below the surface. Although it’s inaccessible to diamonds (for now, at least), these findings could have implications for theories of the formation and evolution of rocky planets.
There were researchers from an international team Advanced Research Center for High Pressure Science and TechnologyThe School of Earth Sciences and Resources, China University of GeosciencesThe Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at KU LeuvenAnd this Department of Geography at the University of Liège. A paper describing their findings, “Diamond-bearing core-mantle boundary on Mercury,” appeared recently Natural communication.
The team was impressed at first Previous research A team from MIT, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, and several major universities. It consisted of a reassessment of Mercury’s gravity field based on radio tracking measurements taken by NASA. Mercury surface, space environment, geochemistry and range (MESSENGER) mission, which allowed scientists to better understand the possible structure of Mercury’s interior. This data led scientists to theorize that Mercury’s internal structure consists of a metallic outer core layer, a liquid core layer, and a solid inner core.
Although the composition of the core was uncertain, it appeared that the core may contain large amounts of iron, nickel, silicon, and sulfur and carbon. The MESSENGER data also led scientists to believe that the large dark patches observed on Mercury’s surface are mostly made of graphite. These data suggest that sufficient carbon in Mercury’s interior between the core and mantle boundary may have crystallized and floated to the surface as graphite.
Given the amount of graphite on Mercury’s surface, the planet is saturated with carbon. Previously, diamond (a mineral composed of pure carbon) was ruled out as a possible material because it was believed that the necessary pressures near the center of Mercury did not exist. However, if the boundary between the core and mantle is deeper than previously thought, the necessary pressure conditions may have existed.
For their study, the team relied on a thermodynamic model to reproduce these stress conditions based on the existence of a deep core-mantle boundary. These experiments allowed us to simulate what conditions existed as Mercury slowly cooled. Their results indicated that diamond could crystallize within the molten core at a sulfur content of about 11% and a pressure of 1–2% that of Earth’s interior. And they found that diamond forms a layer with graphite that is stable enough to rise toward the mantle.
Over the ages, their experiments suggested that the diamond formed a layer 15 to 18 km (~9 to 11 mi) thick. Given how diamond is an exceptional conductor of heat, the presence of this layer could change the way astronomers model Mercury’s internal dynamics and shed light on its mysterious magnetic field. The way heat rises from the core significantly affects the cooling and evolution of rocky planets, and the movement of material in the interior is responsible for the generation of magnetic fields.
Mercury is not only a rocky planet other than Earth, but there is evidence that it may be much older than ours. Therefore, revised models of Mercury’s interior could explain how the planet’s magnetosphere has persisted for so long. Beyond Mercury, these findings could have significant implications for prevailing theories of how our solar system’s rocky planets formed and evolved.
read more: Scientific alert, Natural communication
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