Core formation resolves Earth’s siderophile excess without a late veneer
Abstract
Highly siderophile elements (HSEs) are expected to be extensively depleted in the mantle due to their affinity for metal during core formation. Yet, their abundances in the mantle far exceed the predictions based on low pressure and low temperature partitioning experiments. In addition, all HSEs are present in similar chondritic relative proportion in the mantle. This has traditionally been attributed to the late accretion of chondritic material, the late veneer. We present laser-heated diamond anvil cell experiments that quantify the partitioning behavior of five HSEs (rhenium, osmium, iridium, palladium, and gold) under pressure-temperature conditions directly relevant to early Earth’s magma ocean. Our results demonstrate a substantial decrease in metal-silicate partition coefficients with increasing temperature. Multistage accretion models reproduce the observed HSE abundances and ratios in the mantle without invoking a late veneer. This resolves the longstanding paradox of HSEs excess’ in the mantle and suggests that the delivery of volatile compounds to the young Earth is primarily explained by early accretion and differentiation processes.
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BibTeX
@article{blanchard2026core,
title = {{Core formation resolves Earth’s siderophile excess without a late veneer}},
author = {Ingrid Blanchard and Julien Siebert and Lucas Calvo and Sergey S Lobanov and Coline Pinchon and Edith Kubik and Max Wilke and Anja Schreiber and Valentina Bonino and François Guyot and Sylvain Petitgirard and Paraskevas Parisiades and Nicolas Guignot},
journal = {Science Advances},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.1126/sciadv.aef0411},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-05766696v1},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Core formation resolves Earth’s siderophile excess without a late veneer
AU - Ingrid Blanchard
AU - Julien Siebert
AU - Lucas Calvo
AU - Sergey S Lobanov
AU - Coline Pinchon
AU - Edith Kubik
AU - Max Wilke
AU - Anja Schreiber
AU - Valentina Bonino
AU - François Guyot
AU - Sylvain Petitgirard
AU - Paraskevas Parisiades
AU - Nicolas Guignot
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/25
JO - Science Advances
DO - 10.1126/sciadv.aef0411
UR - https://hal.science/hal-05766696v1
AB - Highly siderophile elements (HSEs) are expected to be extensively depleted in the mantle due to their affinity for metal during core formation. Yet, their abundances in the mantle far exceed the predictions based on low pressure and low temperature partitioning experiments. In addition, all HSEs are present in similar chondritic relative proportion in the mantle. This has traditionally been attributed to the late accretion of chondritic material, the late veneer. We present laser-heated diamond anvil cell experiments that quantify the partitioning behavior of five HSEs (rhenium, osmium, iridium, palladium, and gold) under pressure-temperature conditions directly relevant to early Earth’s magma ocean. Our results demonstrate a substantial decrease in metal-silicate partition coefficients with increasing temperature. Multistage accretion models reproduce the observed HSE abundances and ratios in the mantle without invoking a late veneer. This resolves the longstanding paradox of HSEs excess’ in the mantle and suggests that the delivery of volatile compounds to the young Earth is primarily explained by early accretion and differentiation processes.
SN - 2375-2548
ER -