SEARCH · Search NASA
Results for “Silicates”
Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.
Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.
Loss and Isotopic Fractionation of Alkali Elements during Diffusion-Limited Evaporation from Molten Silicate: Theory and Experiments
Moderately volatile elements (MVEs) are variably depleted in planetary bodies, reflecting the imprints of nebular and planetary processes. Among MVEs, Na, K, and Rb are excellent tracers for unraveling the history of MVE depletion in planetary bodies because they have similar geochemical behaviors but can be chemically fractionated by evaporation and condensation processes. Furthermore, K and Rb are amenable to high-precision isotopic analyses, which can help constrain the conditions of evaporation and condensation. To quantitatively understand why Na, K, and Rb are depleted in planetary bodies, we have carried out vacuum evaporation experiments from basaltic melt at 1200 and 1400 °C to study their evaporation kinetics and isotopic fractionations. We chose this composition because it is relevant to evaporation from small differentiated planetesimals. The Rb isotopic compositions of the evaporation residues were measured by multicollector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (MC-ICPMS), and the K isotopic compositions were measured along profiles across the residues by secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS). In the 1400 °C run products, we found that the concentrations of both K and Rb in the run products decreased from core to rim, which was accompanied by a heavy K isotope enrichment near the surface. This indicates that, in this run, evaporation was limited by diffusion. To use those data quantitatively, we derive analytical equations that describe the evaporation rate and isotopic fractionation associated with diffusion-limited evaporation from a sphere, slab, and cylinder in transient and quasi-steady state regimes. This model is used to tease out the roles that diffusive transport in the melt and evaporation at the melt/gas interface play in setting the elemental depletion and isotopic composition of the residue. Under our experimental conditions, volatility decreases in the order of Na, Rb, and K. Using our experimental results in a thermodynamic model, we have estimated the product γΓ of activity coefficients × evaporation coefficients of Na, Rb, and K. The measured isotopic compositions of the residues are well explained using Rayleigh distillations, whereby the relative volatilities of K and Rb isotopes are given by the square root of their masses. We use our results and previously published data to predict how K and Rb could have been lost as a function of temperature, melt composition, oxygen fugacity, and saturation degree relevant to Vesta’s building blocks. We find that the K and Rb depletions, K/Rb elemental fractionation, and δ 41 K and δ 87 Rb isotopic fractionations of Vesta (as sampled by howardite-eucrite-diogenite (HED) meteorites) are best explained by evaporation of submillimeter size objects for 0.1-10 years at moderate temperatures (~1050 °C) in a medium ~98.8% saturated.
Effects of Phosphate, Silicate, and Bicarbonate on Arsenopyrite Dissolution and Secondary Mineral Precipitation
Abstract not provided
Microbial Carbonation of Monocalcium Silicate
Not Available
Silicate Melting and Vaporization During Rocky Planet Formation
Collisions that induce melting and vaporization can have a substantial effect on the thermal and geochemical evolution of planets. However, the thermodynamics of major minerals are not well known at the extreme conditions attained during planet formation.We obtained new data at the Sandia Z Machine and use published thermodynamic data for the major mineral forsterite (Mg 2 SiO 4 ) to calculate the specific entropy in the liquid region of the principal Hugoniot.We use our calculated specific entropy of shocked forsterite, and revised entropies for shocked silica, to determine the critical impact velocities for melting or vaporization upon decompression from the shocked state to 1 bar and the triple points, which are near the pressures of the solar nebula.We also demonstrate the importance of the initial temperature on the criteria for vaporization. Applying these results to N-body simulations of terrestrial planet formation, we find that up to 20% to 40% of the total system mass is processed through collisions with velocities that exceed the criteria for incipient vaporization at the triple point. Vaporizing collisions between small bodies are an important component of terrestrial planet formation.