High-temperature Si isotope fractionation between iron metal and silicate

The Si stable isotope fractionation between metal and silicate has been investigated experimentally at 1800, 2000, and 2200 degrees C. We find that there is a significant silicon stable isotope fractionation at high temperature between metal and silicate in agreement with Shahar et al. (2009). Further we find that this fractionation is insensitive to the structure and composition of the silicate as the fractionation between silicate melt and olivine is insignificant within the error of the analyses. The temperature-dependent silicon isotope fractionation is Delta Si-30(silicate-metal) = 7.45 +/- 0.41 x 10(6)/T-2. We also demonstrate the viability of using laser ablation MC-ICPMS as a tool for measuring silicon isotope ratios in high pressure and temperature experiments. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.