The Chemical Composition of Mercury
Larry R. Nittler, Nancy L. Chabot, Timothy L. Grove, and Patrick N., Peplowski

TL;DR
This paper discusses Mercury's surface composition revealed by MESSENGER, indicating a more reducing formation environment and providing insights into its core and mantle composition, which are crucial for understanding planetary formation.
Contribution
It presents new surface composition data of Mercury from MESSENGER, challenging existing formation models and offering estimates of its mantle and core composition.
Findings
Mercury has high abundances of volatile elements and low iron content.
The planet's composition suggests formation under reducing conditions.
Mercury's core is likely Si-rich and enriched in Fe and S.
Abstract
The chemical composition of a planetary body reflects its starting conditions modified by numerous processes during its formation and geological evolution. Measurements by X-ray, gamma-ray, and neutron spectrometers on the MESSENGER spacecraft revealed Mercury's surface to have surprisingly high abundances of the moderately volatile elements sodium, sulfur, potassium, chlorine, and thorium, and a low abundance of iron. This composition rules out some formation models for which high temperatures are expected to have strongly depleted volatiles and indicates that Mercury formed under conditions much more reducing than the other rocky planets of our Solar System. Through geochemical modeling and petrologic experiments, the planet's mantle and core compositions can be estimated from the surface composition and geophysical constraints. The bulk silicate composition of Mercury is likely…
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