Quick
Search: 		  
advanced search
 GSW Home   GeoRef Home   My GSW Alerts   Contact GSW   About GSW   Journals List   Help 
Elements Email Content Delivery
JOURNAL HOME HELP CONTACT PUBLISHER SUBSCRIBE ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Elements; August 2008; v. 4; no. 4; p. 247-252; DOI: 10.2113/GSELEMENTS.4.4.247
© 2008 Mineralogical Society of America
This Article
Right arrow Figures Only
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Lorand, J.-P.
Right arrow Articles by Alard, O.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
GeoRef
Right arrow GeoRef Citation

Platinum-Group Elements: A New Set of Key Tracers for the Earth's Interior

Jean-Pierre Lorand1, Ambre Luguet2 and Olivier Alard3

1 Unité de Recherche <<Minéralogie>> Muséum National
d'Histoire Naturelle and CNRS (UMR 7160)
61 Rue Buffon, 75005, Paris, France
E-mail: jplorand{at}mnhn.fr
2 Steimann Institüt-Endogene Prozesse
Universität Bonn Poppelsdorfer Schloss, 53115 Bonn, Germany
E-mail: ambre.luguet{at}uni-bonn.de
3 Géosciences Montpellier (UMR 5243), Université de Montpellier 2
-CNRS, Pl. E. Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier, France
E-mail: oalard{at}gm.univ-montp2.fr

Due to their "iron-loving" properties, platinum-group elements (PGE) are expected to be stored in the Earth's core. Although very low, at a few parts per billion, PGE concentrations measured in mantle-derived rocks are too high to be in chemical equilibrium with the core. The "late veneer" model offers the best explanation for this paradox—it postulates that a flux of primitive meteorites hit the early Earth after core formation had ceased. However, the inferred PGE composition of the hypothetical primitive mantle exhibits slight positive excesses of Ru, Rh, and Pd compared to the canonical chondritic signature. Such deviations have triggered considerable debate about the composition of the late veneer and the extent of reworking of PGE signatures by igneous processes within the Earth's mantle.

KEYWORDS: platinum-group elements, core, upper mantle, chondrites, base-metal sulfides




This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 ELEMENTSHome page
J. M. Brenan
The Platinum-Group Elements: "Admirably Adapted" for Science and Industry
Elements, August 1, 2008; 4(4): 227 - 232.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 ELEMENTSHome page
H. Palme
Platinum-Group Elements in Cosmochemistry
Elements, August 1, 2008; 4(4): 233 - 238.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 ELEMENTSHome page
R. W. Carlson, S. B. Shirey, and M. Schonbachler
Applications of PGE Radioisotope Systems in Geo- and Cosmochemistry
Elements, August 1, 2008; 4(4): 239 - 245.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 ELEMENTSHome page
J. E. Mungall and A. J. Naldrett
Ore Deposits of the Platinum-Group Elements
Elements, August 1, 2008; 4(4): 253 - 258.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


JOURNAL HOME HELP CONTACT PUBLISHER SUBSCRIBE ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright © 2009 by Mineralogical Society of America