Constraining Earth’s core composition from inner core nucleation

The composition of Earth’s core is a fundamental property of the Earth’s deep interior, defining its present structure and long term thermal and magnetic evolution. However, the composition of the core is not well understood, with several combinations of light elements being able to satisfy the traditional constraints from cosmochemistry, core formation and seismology. The classic view of inner core formation does not include the necessity for liquids to be supercooled to below their melting point before freezing. Attempts to calculate the magnitude of this supercooling have found that several binary core compositions are incompatible with inner core nucleation. Here we show, through molecular dynamics simulations, that nucleation from an Fe1−xCx=0.1-0.15 composition is compatible with a range of geophysical constraints. Whilst not a complete description of core chemistry, our results demonstrate that inner core nucleation places a strong constraint on the composition of Earth’s core that may allow discrimination between previously identified potential compositions. The composition of Earth’s inner core can be constrained by the supercooling required for its formation. Based on molecular dynamic simulations this work shows that inner core nucleation from an iron-carbon composition fits geophysical constraints.

• Publication year

  2025

• Venue

  Nature Communications

• Publication date

  2025-09-04

• Fields of study

  Medicine, Physics, Geology

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1038/s41467-025-62841-4PMID 40908284PMCID 12411617
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

• A non-equilibrium slurry model for planetary cores with application to Earth’s F-layer

  2025cited by this paper
• The formation and evolution of the Earth’s inner core

  2025influential reference
• Can homogeneous nucleation resolve the inner core nucleation paradox?

  2023influential reference
• Examining the power supplied to Earth's dynamo by magnesium precipitation and radiogenic heat production

  2023cited by this paper
• Unveiling the effect of Ni on the formation and structure of Earth’s inner core

  2023influential reference
• Enhanced inner core fine-scale heterogeneity towards Earth’s centre

  2023cited by this paper
• Hydrogen distribution between the Earth's inner and outer core

  2023cited by this paper
• The “New Core Paradox”: Challenges and Potential Solutions

  2022cited by this paper
• Powering Earth's Ancient Dynamo With Silicon Precipitation

  2022cited by this paper
• The PINT database: a definitive compilation of absolute palaeomagnetic intensity determinations since 4 billion years ago

  2022cited by this paper
• Superionic iron alloys and their seismic velocities in Earth’s inner core

  2022cited by this paper
• The metal–silicate partitioning of carbon during Earth's accretion and its distribution in the early solar system

  2022cited by this paper
• Light elements in the Earth’s core

  2021influential reference
• Probing the nucleation of iron in Earth's core using molecular dynamics simulations of supercooled liquids

  2021influential reference
• Two-step nucleation of the Earth’s inner core

  2021cited by this paper
• The Supplementary Material

  2021cited by this paper
• OUP accepted manuscript

  2021cited by this paper
• Paleomagnetism of 3.5-4.0 Ga zircons from the Barberton Greenstone Belt, South Africa

  2021cited by this paper
• The carbon content of Earth and its core

  2020cited by this paper
• Precipitation of multiple light elements to power Earth's early dynamo

  2020cited by this paper
• Chemical compositions of the outer core examined by first principles calculations

  2020cited by this paper
• Transfer of oxygen to Earth's core from a long-lived magma ocean

  2020cited by this paper
• Author contributions

  2019cited by this paper
• Young inner core inferred from Ediacaran ultra-low geomagnetic field intensity

  2019cited by this paper
• The Fate of Liquids Trapped During the Earth's Inner Core Growth

  2019cited by this paper
• Carbon Partitioning Between the Earth's Inner and Outer Core

  2019influential reference
• Assessing the inner core nucleation paradox with atomic-scale simulations

  2019influential reference
• Magnesium Partitioning Between Earth's Mantle and Core and its Potential to Drive an Early Exsolution Geodynamo

  2018cited by this paper
• Array analyses of SmKS waves and the stratification of Earth’s outermost core

  2017cited by this paper
• Earth's inner core nucleation paradox

  2017influential reference
• Sensitivities of Earth's core and mantle compositions to accretion and differentiation processes

  2017cited by this paper
• Composition of the low seismic velocity E′ layer at the top of Earth's core

  2017cited by this paper
• Crystallization of silicon dioxide and compositional evolution of the Earth’s core

  2017cited by this paper
• Cooling history of Earth’s core with high thermal conductivity

  2015cited by this paper
• Energetics of the Core

  2015cited by this paper
• Palaeomagnetic field intensity variations suggest Mesoproterozoic inner-core nucleation

  2015cited by this paper
• Core formation and core composition from coupled geochemical and geophysical constraints

  2015cited by this paper
• High pressure metal–silicate partitioning of Ni, Co, V, Cr, Si, and O

  2015cited by this paper
• High-temperature miscibility of iron and rock during terrestrial planet formation

  2015cited by this paper
• Planetary and meteoritic Mg/Si and δ30Si variations inherited from solar nebula chemistry

  2015cited by this paper
• Low Core-Mantle Boundary Temperature Inferred from the Solidus of Pyrolite

  2014influential reference
• A seismologically consistent compositional model of Earth’s core

  2014influential reference
• Thermal evolution of the core with a high thermal conductivity

  2014cited by this paper
• 3.16 – Compositional Model for the Earth's Core

  2014cited by this paper
• The P‐V‐T equation of state and thermodynamic properties of liquid iron

  2014influential reference
• Accretion and differentiation of the terrestrial planets with implications for the compositions of early-formed Solar System bodies and accretion of water

  2014cited by this paper
• Composition and State of the Core

  2013cited by this paper
• Terrestrial Accretion Under Oxidizing Conditions

  2013influential reference
• Solidus and liquidus profiles of chondritic mantle: Implication for melting of the Earth across its history

  2011influential reference
• Geodynamo, Solar Wind, and Magnetopause 3.4 to 3.45 Billion Years Ago

  2010cited by this paper
• Outer-core compositional stratification from observed core wave speed profiles

  2010cited by this paper
• Stratification of the top of the core due to chemical interactions with the mantle

  2010cited by this paper
• The effect of silicon impurities on the phase diagram of iron and possible implications for the Earth's core structure

  2008cited by this paper
• Thermal and Compositional Evolution of the Core

  2007cited by this paper
• Solubilities of O and Si in liquid iron in equilibrium with (Mg,Fe)SiO3 perovskite and the light elements in the core

  2005influential reference
• Gross thermodynamics of two-component core convection

  2004cited by this paper
• Publisher's Note

  2003cited by this paper
• The theory of transformations in metals and alloys

  2003influential reference
• On the resolution of density within the Earth

  2003influential reference
• Composition and temperature of the Earth's core constrained by combining ab initio calculations and seismic data

  2002influential reference
• Complementary approaches to the ab initio calculation of melting properties

  2001cited by this paper
• From ultrasoft pseudopotentials to the projector augmented-wave method

  1999cited by this paper
• Efficient iterative schemes for ab initio total-energy calculations using a plane-wave basis set.

  1996cited by this paper
• Numerical calculation of the rate of crystal nucleation in a Lennard‐Jones system at moderate undercooling

  1996cited by this paper
• The composition of the Earth

  1995cited by this paper
• Fast parallel algorithms for short-range molecular dynamics

  1993cited by this paper
• Carbon in the core

  1993influential reference
• Atoms, molecules, solids, and surfaces: Applications of the generalized gradient approximation for exchange and correlation.

  1992cited by this paper
• The stably‐stratified outermost core revisited

  1990cited by this paper
• Peer review at work

  1985cited by this paper
• Preliminary reference earth model

  1981influential reference
• Thermal evolution of the Earth's core

  1979cited by this paper
• Density and composition of mantle and core

  1964cited by this paper
• Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to M.L.L. (email:

  year unknowncited by this paper

• No citing papers are available for this paper.