Carbon-bearing iron phases and the carbon isotope composition of the deep Earth.

ABSTRACT: The carbon budget and dynamics of the Earth's interior, including the core, are currently very poorly understood. Diamond-bearing, mantle-derived rocks show a very well defined peak at δ(13)C ≈ -5 ± 3‰ with a very broad distribution to lower values (∼-40‰). The processes that have produced the wide δ(13)C distributions to the observed low δ(13)C values in the deep Earth have been extensively debated, but few viable models have been proposed. Here, we present a model for understanding carbon isotope distributions within the deep Earth, involving Fe-C phases (Fe carbides and C dissolved in Fe-Ni metal). Our theoretical calculations show that Fe and Si carbides can be significantly depleted in (13)C relative to other C-bearing materials even at mantle temperatures. Thus, the redox freezing an

SUBMITTER: Horita J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4291649 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature