The effect of liquid composition on the partitioning of Ni between olivine and silicate melt.

We report the results of experiments designed to separate the effects of temperature and pressure from liquid composition on the partitioning of Ni between olivine and liquid, [Formula: see text]. Experiments were performed from 1300 to 1600 °C and 1 atm to 3.0 GPa, using mid-ocean ridge basalt (MORB) glass surrounded by powdered olivine in graphite-Pt double capsules at high pressure and powdered MORB in crucibles fabricated from single crystals of San Carlos olivine at one atmosphere.

Mineralogy. Discovery of bridgmanite, the most abundant mineral in Earth, in a shocked meteorite.

Meteorites exposed to high pressures and temperatures during impact-induced shock often contain minerals whose occurrence and stability normally confine them to the deeper portions of Earth's mantle. One exception has been MgSiO3 in the perovskite structure, which is the most abundant solid phase in Earth. Here we report the discovery of this important phase as a mineral in the Tenham L6 chondrite and approved by the International Mineralogical Association (specimen IMA 2014-017).