Noble Gas Partitioning Between Metal and Silicate Under High Pressures

Abstract

Measurements of noble gas (helium, neon, argon, krypton, and xenon) partitioning between silicate melt and iron melt under pressures up to 100 kilobars indicate that the partition coefficients are much less than unity and that they decrease systematically with increasing pressure. The results suggest that the Earth's core contains only negligible amounts of noble gases if core separation took place under equilibrium conditions.