What is the composition of

the Earth?
 BULK EARTH

Ni S Al Ca
1.41 1.54
1.8 2.9

Fe
O
32.1
30.1

Mg Si
13.9 15.1
 Crust &
Lithosphere Velocity (km/s)

5 10

S-wave
1000

P-w
MANTLE

av
e
2000
Depth (km)

3000
OUTER
CORE

4000

5000
P-wave
S-wave

INNER
CORE 6000
 Francis Birch
Bulk sound velocity (km/s)

Density (g/cm3)
 Oceans and
atmospheres
? Oceans and
atmospheres

Continental
? & Oceanic
Crusts

Bulk Silicate
+
Depleted
Earth Mantle
Bulk “Primitive
Earth Mantle”
+
Primitive
Mantle

+
Core
Core

In the
First 30 Ma Today
Beginning

EARTH HAS DIFFERENTIATED

How do we determine the bulk
composition of the Earth?

Meteorites

Mantle rocks
 Meteorites

m
Fro tiated un
d Fr o
ere
n
die
s pa iffer m
diff nt bo ren en
e t b tiate
par od
ies d

“magmatic” Stony Achondrites Chondrites

Irons Irons Basaltic rocks
Cores from Pallasites from the crusts
differentiated Mesosiderites and mantles
planetesimals Carbonaceous Enstatite Ordinary
of planetesimals Chondrites Chondrites Chondrites
Ci, CR, CM, EH, EL H, L, LL
CO, CV, CK,
CH

? ?

Mars Moon Eucrite Parent Others Ureilites Aubrites

SNC = Body (Vesta?) Angrites From a Enstatite
Shergottites HED = Brachinites Carbonaceous Chondrite
Nakhlites Howardites parent body? Parent body?
Chassigny Eucrites
Diogenites
 35

Enstatite
30
Wt. % Fe-metal + FeS

Chondrites

25
H

20 Ordinary
Chondrites
15
L Carbonaceous
10 Chondrites

LL
5

0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Wt. % FeO
 0.18
Terrestrial
array Cosmochemical
0.16 Fractionation
trend
0.14
BSE
0.12 CV
CK
0.10
Al/Si CR
CM CO
CI
0.08 L H
.

EL
0.06 EH
LL

0.04
0.02
0.00
0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0

Mg/Si
 Drake and Righter, 2002; after:

4 Clayton, R. N. & Mayeda, T. K. Oxygen isotope studies in

0 carbonaceous chondrites. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 63, 2089-
. 2104 (1999).
4 Clayton, R. N. Oxygen isotopes in meteorites. Annu. Rev. Earth
1 Planet. Sci. 21, 115-149 (1993).
.
4 Clayton, R. N., Mayeda, T. K., Goswami, J. N. & Olsen, E. J.
2 Oxygen isotope studies in ordinary chondrites. Geochim.
. Cosmochim. Acta 55, 2317-2337 (1991).
Earth, meteorites and planetesimals differ
compositionally

There may not be a perfect meteorite analog

 Olivine
Dunite
0.9 0.9

A 0.8 0.8
B
it e

W
u rg

0.7 0.7 OPX

eh
rzb

rlit
0.6 0.6

e
Ha

OL
0.5 0.5 SP
0.4 Lherzolite 0.4 CPX
0.3 0.3

0.2 0.2
Olivine websterite
0.1 0.1

Ortho- Clino-
pyroxene 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 pyroxene

Wt. Fraction in peridotite

94
C
D
92

Mg#
90

88
100 95 90 85 80 75 70 65 60 55 50

Olivine Mode

Can we use peridotites from the mantle?

--is there a sample of “primitive mantle”?

--or can we infer what primitive mantle is
 MANTLE PERIDOTITES
7

CaO wt. %
5 Me
ltin
gt
4 ren
d
3

0
35 40 45 50
7

6
Al2O3 wt. %

0
35 40 45 50
1.2

1.0
Na2O wt. %

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

0.0
35 40 45 50

MgO (wt. %)
 50% condensation temperatures (pressure 1E-4 bars)
H He

Li Be B 964 C N O F Ne
1225 736
Na Mg Al Si P S 648 Cl Ar
970 1340 1680 1311 1267
K Ca Sc Ti V Cr Mn Fe Co Ni Cu Zn Ga Ge As Se Br Kr
1000 1520 1644 1590 1300 1190 1336 1351 1354 1037 660 997 1157 684
Rb Sr Y Zr Nb Mo Tc Ru Rh Pd Ag Cd In 470 Sn Sb Te I Xe
1080 1750 1600 1600 1334 952 720 912 680
Cs Ba La-Lu Hf Ta W Re Os Ir Pt Au Hg Tl 428 Pb Bi Po At Rn
1800 1800 1800 1600 1411 1225 496 451
Fr Ra Ac-Lr

La Ce Pr Nd Pm Sm Eu Gd Tb Dy Ho Er Tm Yb Lu
1500 1290 1420 1590
Ac Th Pa U Np Pu Am Cm Bk Cf Es Fm Md No Lr
1590 1540

Refractory, >1400 K Moderately volatile ~800-1250 K

Transitional ~1250-1350 K Highly volatile <800 K

Temperature
Kelvin
1800
Refractory
CAIs
1600 Aluminum
Calcium High
Titanium Temperature
1400 Phases
Fe-Ni alloys
Silicates
1200 Olivine
Moderately

Pyroxene
Volatile

1000
Feldspars
Fe-sulfides
800
Hydrous silicates
600 serpentine, clays Low
Volatile
Highly

Temperature
Phases
400
Water, Ice
200
Carbona-
ceous

Ordinary

The Early Evolution of the Inner Solar System: A

Meteoritic Perspective
C. M. O'D. Alexander, A. P. Boss, R. W. Carlson
SCIENCE, Volume 293, Number 5527, pp. 64-68

Fig. 2. (A) The CI chondrite normalized elemental

abundances in bulk carbonaceous (CM, CO, and CV)
and ordinary chondrites (OC) (53) versus their 50%
condensation temperatures (54). The correlation
between abundance and condensation temperature
(volatility) is striking. The elements are divided into
refractory (>1350 K), moderately volatile (700 to 1350
K), and highly volatile (<700 K). The common
elements (Mg, Si, and Fe) have been included with the
moderately volatile elements to simplify the plot. The
three ordinary chondrite groups have been combined,
also to simplify the plot.
 108 He H
C O
Solar Elemental abundance (per 106 Si atoms)

N
6
Fe
10
Mg
S
Al
104 Ni
Co
Ti
2
10 Cu
Ge
Rb Sr
B

1 Pb
Be Li

Th
-2
10
10-2 1 102 104 106 108

CI carbonaceous chondrite
(per 106 Si atoms)
Nebular differentiation

Refractory

Moderately volatile

Volatile

Planetary differentiation

Lithophile – silicate loving

Siderophile – Fe loving

Atmophile - atmosphere
 2000

1800

1600 Ca/ScCI
= 1562
1400
Ca/Sc

1200

1000 .

800

600

400
PM
200

0
0.00 1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 6.00 7.00

Al2O3

Refractory Lithophile Element relative abundances

are equal among the chondrite classes, suggesting
that this probably holds with Earth as well.

We can use RLE ratios to ultimately constrain

absolute concentrations of RLE as seen above
Using magmas as “windows” to the mantle

1000
Cont. Melts and crust
Crust
100 normalized to
primitive mantle

10 Plume

MORB Primitive
1
Mantle

0.1

0.01
Cs Rb Ba Th U Nb La Ce Pr Sr Nd Zr Hf SmGd Tb Dy Ho Y Er Yb Lu

incompatible More compatible

Increasing D
MORB source is depleted in
highly incompatible
elements (DMM = depleted
MORB mantle)

Continental Crust is
enriched in highly
incompatible elements

Plume is enriched or more

primitive in character
 melt Partition coefficient

Csolid
D=
Cmelt

D>1 compatible in solid

Solid residue D<1 incompatible in solid

 melt
Sm/Nd < 1 Rb/Sr > 1

Sm/Nd > 1 Rb/Sr < 1

Solid residue

147Sm – 143Nd 87Rb – 87Sr

e
a ntl t
d M Bulk rus Bulk
pl ete Earth nt.
C Earth
De o
143Nd/144Nd

C
ntle
87Sr/86Sr

a
rust t ed M
Co nt. C Dep
le

4.559 Gy 0 4.559 Gy 0
time time
Depleted Mantle
radiogenic Nd
unradiogenic Sr

Continental Crust
unradiogenic Nd
radiogenic Sr

Hofmann, 1997
Nature 385: 219-229