Chemical Equilibrium Calculations for Bulk Silicate Earth Material at High Temperatures
The chemical equilibrium distribution of 69 elements between gas and melt is modeled for bulk silicate Earth (BSE) material from 1000 - 4500 K and 1e-6 to 100 bar. The BSE melt is modeled as a non-ideal solution and the effects of different activity coefficients and ideal solution are studied. Results include 50% condensation temperatures, major gases of each element, and oxygen fugacity (fO2) of dry and wet BSE material. The dry BSE model excludes H, C, N, F, Cl, Br, I, S, Se, Te. The wet BSE model includes H and the other volatiles. Key conclusions are much higher condensation temperatures in silicate vapor than in solar composition gas at the same total P, a different condensation sequence in silicate vapor than in solar composition gas, good agreement between different activity coefficient models except for the alkalis, agreement, where overlap exists, with prior published work, condensation of Re, Mo, W, Ru, Os oxides instead of metals, a stability field for Ni-rich metal as reported by Lock et al. (2018), agreement between ideal solution (from this work and from Lock et al. 2018) and real solution condensation temperatures for elements with minor deviations from ideality in the oxide melt, similar 50% condensation temperatures, within a few degrees, in the dry and wet BSE models for the major elements Al, Ca, Fe, Mg, Si, and the minor elements Co, Cr, Li, Mn, Ti, V, and much lower 50 percent condensation temperatures for elements such as B, Cu, K, Na, Pb, Rb, which form halide, hydroxide, sulfide, selenide, telluride and oxyhalide gases. The latter results are preliminary because the poorly known solubilities and activities of volatile elements in silicate melts must be considered for the correct equilibrium distribution, condensation temperatures and mass balance of F, Cl, Br, I, H, S, Se and Te bearing species between melt and vapor (abridged).