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The core of Ganymede is suggested to be mainly Fe but with a significant proportion of S. Effects of S as a core constituent are freezing-point depression, allowing for a molten core at relatively low core temperatures, and modification of transport properties that can influence the dynamo and thermal evolution. The electrical resistivity of solid and liquid Fe-FeS (~24–30 wt.% S) was measured up to 5 GPa and thermal conductivity was calculated using the Wiedemann–Franz law. These first well-constrained experimental data on near eutectic Fe-FeS compositions showed intermediate values of electrical and thermal conductivities compared to the end-members. Eutectic temperatures were delineated from the solid to liquid transition, inferred from sharp changes in electrical resistivity, at each pressure. Combined with thermal models, our calculated estimates of the adiabatic heat flow of a molten Fe-FeS eutectic composition core model of Ganymede showed that thermal convection is permissible.
Littleton et al. (Wed,) studied this question.