Electrical resistivity of the Fe-Si-S ternary system: implications for timing of thermal convection shutdown in the lunar core

Joshua A H Littleton; Wenjun Yong; Richard A Secco

doi:10.1038/s41598-022-21904-y

Electrical resistivity of the Fe-Si-S ternary system: implications for timing of thermal convection shutdown in the lunar core

Sci Rep. 2022 Nov 8;12(1):19031. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-21904-y.

Authors

Joshua A H Littleton^{1

2}, Wenjun Yong¹, Richard A Secco³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Earth Sciences, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, N6A3K7, Canada.
² Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, 63130, USA.
³ Department of Earth Sciences, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, N6A3K7, Canada. secco@uwo.ca.

Abstract

The composition of the lunar core has been suggested to be Fe-rich with varying amounts of lighter elements, such as Si and S. Presence of Si and S affects electrical and thermal transport properties and thus influences core thermal processes and evolution. Paleomagnetic observations constrain a high intensity magnetic field that ceases shortly after formation of the moon (~ 3.5-4.2 Ga year ago), and thermal convection in the core may contribute to generation of this field. In this study, the electrical resistivity of Fe-14 wt% Si-3 wt% S was measured in both solid and molten states at pressures up to 5 GPa and thermal conductivity was calculated via the Wiedemann-Franz Law from the electrical measurements. The results were used to estimate the adiabatic conductive heat flux of a molten Fe-14 wt% Si-3 wt% S lunar core and compared to a Fe-2-17 wt% Si lunar core, which showed that thermal convection of either core composition shuts down within the duration of the high intensity magnetic field: (1) 3.17-3.72 Ga year ago for a Fe-14 wt% Si-3 wt% S core; and (ii) 3.38-3.86 Ga years ago for a Fe-2-17 wt% Si core. Results favouring compatibility of these core compositions with paleomagnetic observations are strongly dependent on the temperature of the core-mantle boundary and time-dependent mantle-side heat flux.