Mars: A New Core-Crystallization Regime
Andrew J. Stewart,1
Max W. Schmidt,1*
Wim van Westrenen,2
Christian Liebske1
The evolution of the martian core is widely assumed to mirror the characteristics observed for Earth's core. Data from experiments performed on iron-sulfur and iron-nickel-sulfur systems at pressures corresponding to the center of Mars indicate that its core is presently completely liquid and that it will not form an outwardly crystallizing iron-rich inner core, as does Earth. Instead, planetary cooling will lead to core crystallization following either a "snowing-core" model, whereby iron-rich solids nucleate in the outer portions of the core and sink toward the center, or a "sulfide inner-core" model, where an iron-sulfide phase crystallizes to form a solid inner core.
1 Institute for Mineralogy and Petrology, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zurich, CH 8092 Zurich, Switzerland.
2 Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences, Vrije Universiteit, 1081 HV Amsterdam, Netherlands.
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: max.schmidt{at}erdw.ethz.ch
