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I'm playing around with the concept of a planet containing unusually high heavy metal content, due to being born in a nebula that resulted from a neutron star merger. What conditions would this planet need to have on top of this to sustain life?

by high heavy metal content, I mean upwards of 70%. I've seen conflicting information on whether a planet such as this could sustain a magnetosphere over a geologically significant period. I hypothesize that radiation from decomposing elements within the crust, as there would be a much more significant amount than on Earth, could potentially keep it geologically active for longer, and if somehow it could develop a brittle crust it would be able to have earthlike plate tectonics, but I am unsure how that would happen, if it could at all.

another concern with this is the surface temperature of the planet, and if it doesn't have a thick enough crust it could be completely baked on the surface due to the higher melting points of many heavier metals.

changing the composition of the planet or having theoretical alternate biochemistry is also okay

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    $\begingroup$ Please clarify your specific problem or provide additional details to highlight exactly what you need. As it's currently written, it's hard to tell exactly what you're asking. $\endgroup$
    – Community Bot
    Commented Mar 18 at 1:55
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    $\begingroup$ (a) You need to downgrade from science-based to science-fiction. The only planet we know of that can sustain life is Earth and it's not 70% metal at the surface. (b) I assume you mean 70% at the surface. Earth's total mass is 30% iron and maybe another 8% other metals. You're more than doubling that if the whole thing is 70% (better be a small planet or the gravity will be ugly). (c) Too much metal kills life as we know it, but who's to say life couldn't evolve under your conditions? That, of course, is the problem - who is to say it can or can't... we have only one data point. $\endgroup$
    – JBH
    Commented Mar 18 at 4:03
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    $\begingroup$ The urge I have to answer this, completely ignore the geology tag and talk about my favourite Music Genre and how much better life would be if things were 70% Heavy Metal \m/ is overwhelming... $\endgroup$
    – TheDemonLord
    Commented Mar 18 at 18:50
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    $\begingroup$ @Joachim I'm thinking a planet with that much heavy metal doesn't need a magnetosphere. Compressed atmosphere from the necessarily loud music would cause the solar wind to just bounce off. Something like what you'd see on a poster if today's heavy metal music was at a 1960s rock festival. Psychedelic and loud. Really loud. $\endgroup$
    – JBH
    Commented Mar 19 at 18:22
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    $\begingroup$ @JBH A natural shield, sustained by the muses. I can feel another creation myth forming. The Ainur as gods of rock :) $\endgroup$
    – Joachim
    Commented Mar 20 at 8:36

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IMHO, yes it could.

Here is an estimate of the abundance of elements in the Earth's Crust. Note that hydrogen is in 10th place with 0.1% by weight, but we have oceans. The Earth's crust is also only 1% of the Earth's volume. If you had a high fraction of heavy elements in your planet, then radioactive decay might well keep the core molten. In which case all the heavy stuff would sink, and the light stuff would float to the surface, probably giving a very Earth-like distribution of elements at the surface.

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