Partitioning of potassium between silicates and sulphide melts - Experiments relevant to the earth's core.

The partitioning of potassium between roedderite, K2Mg5Si12O30 and an Fe-FeS melt was investigated at temperatures about 40 C above the Fe-FeS eutectic. Roedderite was considered a prime candidate for one of the potassium-bearing phases in the primitive earth because roedderite and merrihueite are the only two silicates containing essential potassium which have been identified in stony meteorites. Application of the results to a primitive chondritic earth is discussed, and it is concluded that extraction of most of the earth's potassium into the Fe-FeS core would occur under the conditions in the early earth.-