When you purchase through links on our site , we may realise an affiliate commission . Here ’s how it works .
Mercury may have a thick layer of diamonds C of miles below its surface , a new field show . The determination , publish June 14 in the journalNature Communications , may aid solve mysteries about the satellite ’s composition and peculiar magnetized field .
Mercuryis replete with whodunit . For one , it has a magnetised field . Although it ’s much weaker than Earth ’s , themagnetismis unexpected because the satellite is diminutive and appear to be geologically inactive . Mercury also has unusually dark surface patches thatNASA ’s Messenger commission identified as plumbago , a form of carbon .
Mercury, seen in this false-color image, may have a deep layer of inner diamonds, new research finds.
That latter feature of speech is what sparked the rarity ofYanhao Lin , a staff scientist at the Center for High Pressure Science and Technology Advanced Research in Beijing and co - source of the study . Mercury ’s extremely high atomic number 6 content " made me take in that something special likely hap within its interior , " he said in astatement .
Despite Mercury ’s oddities , scientists mistrust it probably formed the path other sublunary planet did : from the cooling of a red-hot magma ocean . In Mercury ’s case , this sea was likely racy in carbon and silicate . First , metal coagulated within it , form a central core , while the remaining magma effloresce into the planet ’s halfway pall and outer impertinence .
For year , researcher thought the mantle ’s temperature and pressure were just gamey enough forcarbonto shape graphite , which , being lighter than the drape , floated to the surface . But a 2019studysuggested that Mercury ’s mantle may be 80 naut mi ( 50 kilometers ) deeply than previously think . That would substantially storm up the pressure and temperature at the bound between the core and the pallium , creating conditions where the carbon could crystallize into baseball field .
A diagram showing the proposed layer of diamond at Mercury’s core-mantle boundary.
" We consider that rhombus could have been form by two processes , " studyo cobalt - author Olivier Namur , an associate prof at KU Leuven , told Live Science ’s sister siteSpace.com . " First is the crystal of the magma ocean , but this process belike conduce to forming only a very thin baseball field layer at the core / mantle user interface . Secondly , and most significantly , the crystallization of the metallic element core of Mercury . "
To investigate these possibility , a team of Belgian and Taiwanese researchers , including Lin , whipped up chemical substance soups that include iron , silica and atomic number 6 . Such mixtures , like in composition to certain kinds ofmeteorites , are opine to mimic the baby Mercury ’s magma ocean . The researchers also swamped these soups with varying amounts of smoothing iron sulfide ; they figured the magma ocean contained loads of sulfur , as Mercury ’s present - 24-hour interval Earth’s surface is also sulfur - full-bodied .
colligate : Uranus and Neptune are n’t made of what we thought , new field hints
Using a multiple - anvil press , the team subjected the chemical substance mixtures to crushing pressures of 7 gigapascals — roughly 70,000 times the insistence of Earth ’s atm at ocean level — and temperature of up to 3,578 degree Fahrenheit ( 1,970 degrees Celsius ) . These extreme condition feign those deep within Mercury .
In addition , the researchers used reckoner models to get more accurate measurements of the pressure and temperature at Mercury ’s core - mantle edge , besides simulate the physical conditions under which plumbago or diamond would be stable . Such information processing system models , accord to Lin , tell us about the fundamental structures of a satellite ’s interior .
The experiment showed that minerals such as olivine probably organise in the mantle — a finding that was coherent with former study . However , the team also discovered that contribute atomic number 16 to the chemical brew induce it to solidify only at much higher temperature . Such shape are more favorable for spring diamond . Indeed , the squad ’s computer simulations showed that , under these revised conditions , diamonds may have crystallize when Mercury ’s interior core solidified . Because it was less dense than the core , it then floated up to the core - mantle boundary . The figuring also showed that the diamonds , if present , form a layer with an average thickness of about 9 miles ( 15 km ) .
Mining these gems is n’t precisely feasible , however . Apart from the planet ’s extreme temperatures , the diamonds are way too deep — about 300 mile ( 485 km ) below the airfoil — to be extracted .
— Mercury may have a ' potentially habitable ' region below its surface , salty glaciers suggest
— The Lord’s Day has blast Mercury with a plasma waving
— Earth ’s magnetic field mold before the satellite ’s Congress of Racial Equality , study suggests
But the gemstones are important for a dissimilar cause : They may be responsible for Mercury ’s magnetic field . The diamonds may aid transfer heat between the substance and the mantle , which would create temperature difference and cause liquid iron to swirl , thereby creating a magnetised field , Lin explain .
The issue could also help to excuse how atomic number 6 - richexoplanetsevolve . " The outgrowth that lead to the formation of a diamond stratum on Mercury might also have pass off on other planet , potentially leaving similar signatures , " Lin said .
More clues may derive from BepiColombo , a joint missionary post of theEuropean Space Agencyand the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency . Launched in 2018 , the spacecraft is schedule to begin orbiting Mercury in 2025 .
