Science, Vol.269, No.5225, 819-822, 1995
Os-187 Enrichment in Some Plumes - Evidence for Core-Mantle Interaction
Calculations with data for asteroidal cores indicate that Earth’s outer core may have a rhenium/osmium ratio at least 20 percent greater than that of the chondritic upper mantle, potentially leading to an outer core with an osmium-187/osmium-188 ratio at least 8 percent greater than that of chondrites. Because of the much greater abundance of osmium in the outer core relative to the mantle, even a small addition of metal to a plume ascending from the D " layer would transfer the enriched isotopic signature to the mixture. Sources of certain plume-derived systems seem to have osmium-187/osmium-188 ratios 5 to 20 percent greater than that for chondrites, consistent with the ascent of a plume from the core-mantle boundary.
Keywords:IRON-METEORITES;OCEANIC BASALTS;ISOTOPE SYSTEMATICS;ISLAND BASALTS;EARTHS CORE;ELEMENTS;SIDEROPHILE;ABUNDANCES;EVOLUTION;GROWTH