Accretion and core formation: The effects of sulfur on metal-silicate partition coefficients

Further support for late sulfide addition to the core comes from the depletion factors of volatile chalcophile elements Cu, Ga, Sb, Ag, Zn, Pb, Cd, In and Tl in silicate Earth relative to lithophile elements of similar volatility. We find that depletions of these elements are well correlated with their partition coefficients into sulfide (FeS) liquids at 1.5 GPa and temperatures of 1460-1650 °C. In contrast there is essentially no correlation between their depletion factors and sulfur-free liquid Fe-silicate partition coefficients.