Are Earth's Core and Mantle on Speaking Terms?

摘要

Earth's interior is divided into a central core made of an iron-nickel alloy and a rocky mantle made of silicate and oxide minerals. Earth scientists often ignore the core in their treatments of the chemical and dynamic evolution of the mantle after core-mantle segregation. However, there has been growing debate on whether there may be significant chemical interaction between the core and the mantle. On page 91 of this issue, Humayun et al. (7) present data that suggest that the lower mantle may be enriched in iron compared to the upper mantle, and that this iron enrichment may indeed be due to core-mantle interaction.