Partitioning metal-silicate equilibria

Although HSE concentrations are low in the Earth s mantle, they are not as low as one would expect from equilibrium partitioning between core forming metal and residual mantle silicate, as emphasized by new data on metal/silicate partition coefficients for these elements (Borisov and Palme, 1997 Borisov et al., 1994). Murthy (1991) suggested that partition coefficients are dependent on temperature and pressure in such a way that at the high P-T conditions where core formation may have occurred, the observed mantle concentrations of HSEs would be obtained by metal/silicate equilibration. This hypothesis has been rejected on various grounds (O Neill, 1992), and high P-T experiments have not provided support for the drastic decrease of metal/silicate partition coefficients of HSE required by the Murthy model (Holzheid et al., 1998). 

Any effect of pressure on the magnitude of the metal/silicate partition coefficient can be related to the volumetric properties of the equilibrium... 

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