Scientists long believed that Earth's lower mantle was composed of Bridgmanite (Mg,Fe)SiO3 and magnesiowüstite (Mg,Fe)O, in which Fe2+ dwells. This view changed when experiments showed that Fe2+ simply can't exist at the pressure and temperature of the lower mantle. What is present is Fe3+. The two phases (Mg,Fe)SiO3 and (Mg,Fe)O both shed Fe2+ and, in turn, MgSiO3 and MgO remain. However, what mineral hosts Fe3+ had remained unknown.
Now, scientists have a possible answer: Maohokite, a newly discovered high-pressure mineral. It may be what composes the Earth's lower mantle along with Bridgmanite MgSiO3 and magnesiowüstite MgO. The study reporting this new mineral was published in Meteoritics & Planetary Science.
[...] Maohokite, with a composition of MgFe2O4, has an orthorhombic CaFe2O4-type structure. The existing mineralogical model of the Earth's mantle shows that the ferromagnesian lower mantle is mainly composed of Bridgmanite (Mg,Fe)SiO3 and magnesiowüstite (Mg,Fe)O. Therefore, the fact that Maohokite contains Mg and Fe, two major components of the lower mantle, only makes the case stronger that Maokohite is a key mineral in the lower mantle.
The researchers were under a lot of pressure to produce this result.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Saturday December 08 2018, @11:20AM
Theoreticians never win the Nobel until experimentalists confirm their predictions.
For example, CERN's discovery of the Higgs resulted not in any CERN collaboration members getting the Nobel, rather it was shared three old guys who'd been waiting for their Prize since the sixties when they independently predicted the Higgs existence.
HOWEVER!
Exciting theoretical predictions make headlines all the time. This is due to a phenomenon known in Hollywood as "Feeding The Monster": you feed the entertainment industry's endless hunger for novelty by shoving scripts into its gaping maw.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]