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The 27th AIRAPT International Conference on High Pressure Science and Technology
Abstract

Poster


16:30

Possible presence of noble gas and compounds at the Earth’core

Authors:
Elissaios Stavrou (LLNL - Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory) ; Yansun Yao (UOFS - Department of Physics and Engineering Physics, University of Saskatchewan) ; Adebayo Adeleke (UOFS - Department of Physics and Engineering Physics, University of Saskatchewan)

Abstract:

Various geophysical models have shown that nobel gases such as Xe and Ar are depleted in Earth’s main reservoirs (i.e., continental crust, atmosphere, and silicate mantle). This indicates that a large amount of nobel gas may be present in the Earth’s core but such consideration is hindered by the lack of knowledge on the reactability of nobel gas elements with the core’s main constituents (Ni and Fe). Here we demonstrate, using density functional calculations and in situ synchrotron x-ray diffraction, that stable compounds can form between Xe/Ar and Ni/Fe at thermodynamic conditions representative of the Earth’s core. Such compounds are stabilized by notable electron transfer from metals to nobel gas elements, changing the electron configurations of the latter toward s-metal. The present results suggest that the abundance of nobel gas in the Earth’s core is beyond a simple solubility of nobel gas in molten Ni-Fe but in chemical reaction in nature, which is truly extraordinary considering the inert nature of nobel gases at ambient conditions.