A recent study suggests that a thick layer of diamonds may exist hundreds of miles below Mercury’s surface, according to a report Living science. Yanhao Lin, a scientist at the Center for High-Pressure Science and Technology Advanced Research in Beijing and a co-author of the study, said the extremely high carbon content of Mercury “made me realize that something strange probably happened inside it.” The first planet of our solar system has a magnetic field, but it is much weaker than Earth’s. NASA’s Messenger spacecraft also discovered anomalously black areas on Mercury’s surface that it identified as graphite, a type of carbon.
The results of the study, published in the journal Nature Communications, could shed light on the planet’s composition and unusual magnetic field.
Scientists believe that the planet most likely formed from the cooling of a hot lava ocean, similar to how other terrestrial planets developed. This ocean was probably rich in silicates and carbon in the case of Mercury. The planet’s outer crust and mid-mantle formed from residual magma that crystallized while the metals within it first coagulated to form the central core.
For many years, scientists believed that the temperature and pressure in the mantle were just right for carbon to form graphite, which floats to the surface because it is lighter than the mantle. However, a 2019 study revealed that Mercury’s mantle may be 50 kilometers (80 mi) deeper than previously thought. This would greatly increase the temperature and pressure at the mantle-core boundary, resulting in circumstances where carbon could crystallize into diamond.
A team of Belgian and Chinese scientists prepared chemical soups using carbon, silica and iron to look at this possibility. These mixtures, which resemble several types of meteorites in their composition, are thought to resemble the magma ocean of newborn Mercury. In addition, the researchers added different concentrations of iron sulfide to these soups. Based on the sulfur-rich surface of Mercury today, they understood that the magmatic ocean was also rich in sulfur.
The researchers crushed the chemical mixtures to 7 gigapascals, or 70,000 times the pressure of Earth’s atmosphere at sea level, using a multi-anvil press. These harsh conditions mirror those found deep inside Mercury. In addition to recreating the physical conditions under which graphite or diamond would be stable, the researchers used computer models to obtain more accurate measurements of temperature and pressure near the boundary between Mercury’s core and mantle. Mr Lin says these computer simulations provide information about the basic compositions of the planet’s interior.
According to research, minerals like olivine most likely developed in the mantle. However, the group also found that the chemical mixture only solidified at significantly higher temperatures when sulfur was added. Under such circumstances, the formation of a diamond is more likely. The team’s computer models further suggested that diamonds may have formed during the solidification of Mercury’s inner core under these altered circumstances. It then floated up to the core-mantle barrier because it was less dense than the core. It is estimated that, if diamonds are present, they form a layer that is typically about 15 km (9 mi) thick.
However, mining these diamonds is not possible. In addition to the extremely high temperatures on the planet, diamonds are located almost 485 km below the surface, making mining impossible. According to Mr. Lin, the diamonds could help transfer heat between the mantle and the core, resulting in temperature differences and swirling liquid iron that would create a magnetic field.
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