A silicate dynamo in the early Earth

Stixrude, Lars; Scipioni, Roberto; Desjarlais, Michael P.

doi:10.1038/s41467-020-14773-4

A silicate dynamo in the early Earth

Journal Article · Mon Feb 24 23:00:00 EST 2020 · Nature Communications

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-14773-4· OSTI ID:1629053

^[1]; Scipioni, Roberto ^[2]; Desjarlais, Michael P. ^[3]

Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States). Dept. of Earth, Planetary and Space Sciences; Univ. College London (United Kingdom). Dept. of Earth Sciences; DOE/OSTI
Univ. College London (United Kingdom). Dept. of Earth Sciences
Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States). Pulsed Power Sciences Center

The Earth’s magnetic field has operated for at least 3.4 billion years, yet how the ancient field was produced is still unknown. The core in the early Earth was surrounded by a molten silicate layer, a basal magma ocean that may have survived for more than one billion years. Here we use density functional theory-based molecular dynamics simulations to predict the electrical conductivity of silicate liquid at the conditions of the basal magma ocean: 100–140 GPa, and 4000–6000 K. We find that the electrical conductivity exceeds 10,000 S/m, more than 100 times that measured in silicate liquids at low pressure and temperature. The magnetic Reynolds number computed from our results exceeds the threshold for dynamo activity and the magnetic field strength is similar to that observed in the Archean paleomagnetic record. We therefore conclude that the Archean field was produced by the basal magma ocean.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER). Earth and Environmental Systems Science Division

Grant/Contract Number:: NA0003525

OSTI ID:: 1629053

Journal Information:: Nature Communications, Journal Name: Nature Communications Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 11; ISSN 2041-1723

Publisher:: Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Electrical conductivity of warm dense silica from double-shock experiments Guarguaglini, M.; Soubiran, F.; Hernandez, J. -A. Nature Communications, Vol. 12, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-21046-1	journal	February 2021
Equation of State of Hot, Dense Magnesium Derived with First-PrinciplesComputer Simulations González-Cataldo, Felipe; Soubiran, François; Militzer, Burkhard arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2008.08459	text	January 2020

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