Transport properties of Fe-Ni-Si alloys at Earth's core conditions: Insight into the viability of thermal and compositional convection

Abstract

Thermal and compositional convection in Earth's core are thought to be the main power sources driving geodynamo. The viability and strength of thermally and compositionally-driven convection over Earth's history depend on the adiabatic heat flow across the core-mantle boundary (CMB) which is governed by the thermal conductivity of a constituent Fe-Ni-light element alloy at the pressure-temperature (P-T) conditions relevant to the core. Silicon is often proposed to be an abundant light element alloyed with Fe along with ∼5 wt% Ni, but the thermal transport properties of Fe-Ni-Si alloys at high P-T remain largely uncertain. Here we measured the electrical resistivities of Fe-10wt%Ni and Fe-1.8wt%Si alloys up to ∼142 GPa and ∼3400 K using four-probe van der Pauw method in laser-heated diamond anvil cell experiments. Our results show that the resistivities of hcp-Fe-1.8Si and Fe-10Ni display quasi-linear temperature dependence from ∼1500 to 3400 K at each given high pressure. Addition of ∼2 wt% Si in hcp-Fe significantly increases its resistivity by ∼25% at ∼138 GPa and 4000 K, but Fe-10wt%Ni has similar resistivity to pure hcp-Fe at near CMB P-T conditions. Using our measured values of electrical resistivities, we model thermal conductivities via the Wiedemann-Franz law, giving a nominal thermal conductivity of ∼50 Wm−1K−1 for liquid Fe-5Ni-8Si alloy at the topmost outer core, implying an adiabatic (conductive) core heat flow of ∼8.0 TW. The outer core has a much lower thermal conductivity than the inner core due to light-element differentiation across the solidifying inner-core boundary. Our studies imply that the adiabatic core heat flow is low enough to enable thermal convection to drive the geodynamo over most and possibly all of Earth's history, while the strength of compositional convection increases with the inner-core growth and accounts for ∼83% of the buoyancy flux to the present-day geodynamo.