Thermal evolution of the Earth's core during its formation taking into account heat release from the short-lived radioisotopes 26Al and 60Fe

Abstract

Research subject. Based on the two-stage mechanism of the Earth's heterogeneous accumulation, previously proposed by V.N. Anfilogov and Yu.V. Khachay, the thermal evolution of the core during its formation was studied. Account is taken of both the heat release from 26Al, the content of which was established with a fairly reliable accuracy, and that from 60Fe.Materials and methods. The methods of mathematical modelling were used. Calculations were carried out for three estimates of the fractional content of the radioisotope 60Fe to stable 56Fe at the time of CAI formation (Ca-Al-In- clusions, calcium- and aluminium-rich inclusions found in carbonaceous chondrites) based on the results of various authors.Results. As a result of numerical experiments, variants of the temperature and melting temperature distributions at different stages of the core formation for different 60Fe/56Fe ratios were obtained.Conclusions. The results show that the central region of the forming core can remain melted even by the end of its accumulation. As a consequence, in this region for this time, the conditions for free thermal convection and, accordingly, for the implementation of the MHD dynamo mechanism remain.