Transition metals in superheat melts

A series of experiments with silicate melts doped with transition element oxides was carried out at atmospheric pressures of inert gas at temperatures exceeding liquidus. As predicted from the shape of fO2 buffer curves in T-fO2 diagrams the reducing conditions for a particular oxide-metal pair can be achieved through the T increase if the released oxygen is continuously removed. Experimental studies suggest that transition metals such as Cr or V behave as siderophile elements at temperatures exceeding liquidus temperatures if the system is not buffered by the presence of other oxide of more siderophile element. For example the presence of FeO prevents the reduction of Cr2O3. The sequence of decreasing siderophility of transition elements at superheat conditions (Mo, Ni, Fe, Cr) matches the decreasing degree of depletion of siderophile elements in mantle rocks as compared to chondrites.