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SUMMARY:The source of siderophile elements in the silicate Earth – clues
  from the Archean rock record - Matthias Willbold\, University of Bristol
DTSTART:20121127T163000Z
DTEND:20121127T173000Z
UID:TALK38989@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:John Maclennan
DESCRIPTION:The first 500 million years of the solar system were a decisiv
 e time for the geological evolution of the Earth into the planet we know t
 oday and how it became a habitable place. Understanding the chemical and p
 hysical processes by which the Earth formed is of central interest to not 
 only Earth and planetary sciences. These processes ultimately delivered wa
 ter and the essential organic compounds to Earth from which life originate
 d and are\, therefore\, key to the environmental and biological evolution 
 of our planet. \n\nDuring this formation period\, segregation of the Earth
 ’s core depleted the silicate part of the Earth in elements that have a 
 high affinity for metal phases\, so-called siderophile elements\, like the
  precious metals. According to this model\, the Earth’s mantle and crust
  should be devoid of any of these elements\, which is at odds with the fac
 t that they are present in the silicate Earth at surprisingly high abundan
 ces. Here I will explore\, to what extent a protracted meteorite bombardme
 nt replenished the siderophile element content of the Earth’s mantle dur
 ing this ‘late veneer’ epoch more than 3.9 billion years ago.\n\nWillb
 old\, M\, Elliott\, TR & Moorbath\, S. ‘The tungsten isotopic compositio
 n of the Earth's mantle before the terminal bombardment’\, Nature\, 477\
 , (pp. 195-198)\, 2011 
LOCATION:Harker 1 seminar room\, Department of Earth Sciences
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