Researchers at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have made a significant breakthrough in understanding the Earth’s core-mantle boundary and similar regions found in exoplanets. By using advanced X-ray techniques, they have revealed new insights into the behavior of molten rock under extreme conditions, which could have profound implications for the formation and evolution of super-Earths, exoplanets much larger than our own planet.
Unraveling the Mysteries of Earth`s Core
The trenches extend across about 1,800 miles deep within the Earth down to a mysterious hellish region called the core-mantle boundary. This region, squeezed between the solid silicate mantle and the liquid iron core, is a relic of the planet’s past mollusc existence 4.3 to 4.5 billion years ago.
This region is critical for disclosing the origin of the Earth, and provides understanding of the underlying internal processes. Even so, it is so difficult to pick it up because of very high pressure and temperature. The team’s sister researchers at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory step in on this one. They did this by using novel X-ray techniques to replicate the kind of conditions we might find in the impossible mid-to-lower mantles of exoplanets two to three times bigger than Earth.
Unleashing secrets from super-Earth magma oceans
By beating on the molten rock, they could observe firsthand how carbon had entered the typical silicon-based crystal structure in its attempts to get out. They took their research a step further by using much higher energy level hard X-rays than ever before, scanning all atoms that float together like puzzle pieces. By integrating this experimental data with computer modeling, the researchers have been able to construct a detailed picture of molten silicate behavior.
The most unexpected result was that iron in the molten rock did not appreciably change its density, even though higher concentrations of iron does reduce viscosity. The insight into how the Earth formed, for instance, is particularly valuable as it shows first principles density contrast between crystalline and molten materials being a key ingredient in planetary development.
This suggests that such atomic response to compression could modify the properties of melts at pressures lasting long enough on super‑Earths, planets with mean densities nearly three times higher than Earth. That may shift the initial evolution of these big rocky planets — which are larger than Earth and Venus in our solar system.
Earth and Planetary Sciences progress to next Key Points
The study illuminates the need for advancing experimental techniques to investigate high-pressure, high-temperature environments. The team is anxious to explore extreme exoplanet regimes that are already near the limit of their current understanding.
“We are really excited about this, as it shows we can access these data quality and conduct experiments in the regime needed to enter exoplanet work,” said SLAC Senior Scientist Arianna Gleason. It’s fantastic to think that we can apply pressures equivalent to three times Earth’s mantle conditions. This work offers a new dimension to our understanding of silicate properties at extreme conditions — essential for Earth and exoplanet sciences.
The discovery could be a step towards unlocking more such advanced X-ray techniques, to better research Earth and planetary sciences in new ways. By figuring out what is going on 2,900 kilometers beneath our feet at the core-mantle boundary and in super-Earth magma oceans >pending links for my latest stories paved the way for discovering how Earth was born and has evolved (and will continue to change) just like Manhattan, LA or any where powered by Type form.
