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Title: Large H2O solubility in dense silica and its implications for the interiors of water-rich planets

Abstract

Sub-Neptunes are common among the discovered exoplanets. However, lack of knowledge on the state of matter in H2O-rich setting at high pressures and temperatures (P-T) places important limitations on our understanding of this planet type. We have conducted experiments for reactions between SiO2 and H2O as archetypal materials for rock and ice, respectively, at high P-T. We found anomalously expanded volumes of dense silica (up to 4%) recovered from hydrothermal synthesis above~24 GPa where the CaCl2-type (Ct) structure appears at lower pressures than in the anhydrous system. Infrared spectroscopy identified strong OH modes from the dense silica samples. Both previous experiments and our density functional theory calculations support up to 0.48 hydrogen atoms per formula unit of (Si1-xH4x)O2 (x=0.12). At pressures above 60 GPa, H2O further changes the structural behavior of silica, stabilizing a niccolite-type structure, which is unquenchable. From unit-cell volume and phase equilibrium considerations, we infer that the niccolite-type phase may contain H with an amount at least comparable with or higher than that of the Ct phase. Our results suggest that the phases containing both hydrogen and lithophile elements could be the dominant materials in the interiors of water-rich planets. Even for fully layered cases, the largemore » mutual solubility could make the boundary between rock and ice layers fuzzy. Therefore, the physical properties of the new phases that we report here would be important for understanding dynamics, geochemical cycle, and dynamo generation in water-rich planets.« less

Authors:
ORCiD logo [1];  [1]; ORCiD logo [1];  [1];  [2];  [3];  [2];  [4];  [2]; ORCiD logo [1]
+ Show Author Affiliations
  1. Arizona State Univ., Tempe, AZ (United States)
  2. Univ. of Chicago, IL (United States)
  3. Univ. of Chicago, IL (United States); Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg (Germany)
  4. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Advanced Photon Source (APS)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Univ. of Illinois, Chicago, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Office of Defense Programs (DP); National Science Foundation (NSF); National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
OSTI Identifier:
1755926
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1778252
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC02-06CH11357; FG02-94ER14466; NA0001974; EAR1338810; EAR-1128799; 80NSSC18K0353; NA0003975
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 117; Journal Issue: 18; Journal ID: ISSN 0027-8424
Publisher:
National Academy of Sciences
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS; exoplanets; silica; sub-Neptunes; water; waterworlds

Citation Formats

Nisr, Carole, Chen, Huawei, Leinenweber, Kurt, Chizmeshya, Andrew, Prakapenka, Vitali B., Prescher, Clemens, Tkachev, Sergey N., Meng, Yue, Liu, Zhenxian, and Shim, Sang-Heon. Large H2O solubility in dense silica and its implications for the interiors of water-rich planets. United States: N. p., 2020. Web. doi:10.1073/pnas.1917448117.
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Nisr, Carole, Chen, Huawei, Leinenweber, Kurt, Chizmeshya, Andrew, Prakapenka, Vitali B., Prescher, Clemens, Tkachev, Sergey N., Meng, Yue, Liu, Zhenxian, & Shim, Sang-Heon. Large H2O solubility in dense silica and its implications for the interiors of water-rich planets. United States. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1917448117
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Nisr, Carole, Chen, Huawei, Leinenweber, Kurt, Chizmeshya, Andrew, Prakapenka, Vitali B., Prescher, Clemens, Tkachev, Sergey N., Meng, Yue, Liu, Zhenxian, and Shim, Sang-Heon. Mon . "Large H2O solubility in dense silica and its implications for the interiors of water-rich planets". United States. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1917448117. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1755926.
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@article{osti_1755926,
title = {Large H2O solubility in dense silica and its implications for the interiors of water-rich planets},
author = {Nisr, Carole and Chen, Huawei and Leinenweber, Kurt and Chizmeshya, Andrew and Prakapenka, Vitali B. and Prescher, Clemens and Tkachev, Sergey N. and Meng, Yue and Liu, Zhenxian and Shim, Sang-Heon},
abstractNote = {Sub-Neptunes are common among the discovered exoplanets. However, lack of knowledge on the state of matter in H2O-rich setting at high pressures and temperatures (P-T) places important limitations on our understanding of this planet type. We have conducted experiments for reactions between SiO2 and H2O as archetypal materials for rock and ice, respectively, at high P-T. We found anomalously expanded volumes of dense silica (up to 4%) recovered from hydrothermal synthesis above~24 GPa where the CaCl2-type (Ct) structure appears at lower pressures than in the anhydrous system. Infrared spectroscopy identified strong OH modes from the dense silica samples. Both previous experiments and our density functional theory calculations support up to 0.48 hydrogen atoms per formula unit of (Si1-xH4x)O2 (x=0.12). At pressures above 60 GPa, H2O further changes the structural behavior of silica, stabilizing a niccolite-type structure, which is unquenchable. From unit-cell volume and phase equilibrium considerations, we infer that the niccolite-type phase may contain H with an amount at least comparable with or higher than that of the Ct phase. Our results suggest that the phases containing both hydrogen and lithophile elements could be the dominant materials in the interiors of water-rich planets. Even for fully layered cases, the large mutual solubility could make the boundary between rock and ice layers fuzzy. Therefore, the physical properties of the new phases that we report here would be important for understanding dynamics, geochemical cycle, and dynamo generation in water-rich planets.},
doi = {10.1073/pnas.1917448117},
journal = {Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America},
number = 18,
volume = 117,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Apr 20 00:00:00 EDT 2020},
month = {Mon Apr 20 00:00:00 EDT 2020}
}
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https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1917448117
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