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Heavy iron isotopes leaking from Earth's core:
The boundary between the liquid iron core and the rocky mantle is located some 1,800 miles (2,900 km) below Earth's surface. At this transition, the temperature drops by more than a thousand degrees from the hotter core to the cooler mantle.
The new study suggests heavier iron isotopes migrate toward lower temperatures -- and into the mantle -- while lighter iron isotopes circulate back down into the core. (Isotopes of the same element have different numbers of neutrons, giving them slightly different masses.) This effect could cause core material infiltrating the lowermost mantle to be enriched in heavy iron isotopes.
[...] Understanding the physical processes operating at the core-mantle boundary is important for interpreting seismic images of the deep mantle, as well as modeling the extent of chemical and thermal transfer between the deep Earth and surface of our planet, Lesher said.
[...] Computer simulations performed by the research team show this core material can even reach the surface, mixed with and transported by hot, upwelling mantle plumes. Some lavas erupted at oceanic hot spots such as Samoa and Hawaii are enriched in heavy iron isotopes, which Lesher and the team propose could be a signature of a leaky core.
Journal Reference:
Charles E. Lesher, Juliane Dannberg, Gry H. Barfod et al. Iron isotope fractionation at the core–mantle boundary by thermodiffusion, Nature Geoscience (DOI: doi:10.1038/s41561-020-0560-y)
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday April 14 2020, @05:47PM (6 children)
Or gold.
It's probably easier to mine asteroids than the core.
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(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday April 14 2020, @06:02PM (5 children)
I'm sure there would be incentive to mine gold from asteroids. And other rare-"earth" metals that have industrial and commercial uses.
Gold has practical uses beyond jewelry and hoarding up gold bars. I'm not sure I actually understand why it is valued so highly other than its rarity. But other rare earth metals are scarce. But I don't hear of them in jewelry.
Once a lot of gold were mined, the value of gold would decrease. If enough gold were mined, gold might be as cheap (or cheaper?) than copper. And we build a lot of infrastructure using copper. Copper is valuable enough to be stolen. I suppose it could be valuable to mine from asteroids as well if the cost and selling price are right.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by takyon on Tuesday April 14 2020, @07:16PM (1 child)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold#Other_applications [wikipedia.org]
Electronics, nanoparticles, and more.
Iron is just sickeningly common, particularly in asteroids. If we could land asteroid chunks on Earth (might be possible with a heat shield [soylentnews.org]), we could mine from a surface landing location with much less environmental impact than open pit mines, etc. Choose a barren desert location (which is still a biome admittedly but something has to be sacrificed), land some giant asteroid chunks, and you might have more iron available than has ever been mined in human history.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_ore#Production_and_consumption [wikipedia.org]
World production of raw iron ore is currently about 2.25-2.5 billion metric tons. That's 2.5 × 1012 kg. It's in the ballpark of 70% iron content.
16 Psyche [wikipedia.org] is 2.41 × 1019 kg, with a lot of iron and nickel. The Psyche spacecraft should reveal more about the composition by around 2027. If 0.1% of Psyche was transported to Earth's surface, it would probably contain more iron than has ever been mined. Even if we managed to get 100% of it onto Earth's surface, the effect on Earth's gravity would be negligible (Earth is 5.97237 × 1024 kg)
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 14 2020, @10:43PM
That's what the dinosaurs thought... and look what landing an asteroid on earth did to them.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Tuesday April 14 2020, @11:25PM (2 children)
You would hope so, but diamonds are as common as muck.
(Score: 2) by looorg on Wednesday April 15 2020, @12:32PM (1 child)
De Beers, and others, manage the supply side of it to keep the value up. Not to mention what jewelers etc do -- sure this diamond (or diamond ring) is worth $$$$$$.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Wednesday April 15 2020, @08:26PM
Yes.