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Mineral Physics Illuminates Lower Mantle Hypothesis

Date:
March 24, 2007
Source:
American Geophysical Union
Summary:
Scientists have shown increased interest in a mantle layer known as D", presumed to be just above the core-mantle boundary, since laboratory experiments in 2004 revealed a possible new high-temperature, high-pressure, crystal packing structure derived from the common mantle mineral perovskite.
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Scientists have shown increased interest in a mantle layer known as D", presumed to be just above the core-mantle boundary, since laboratory experiments in 2004 revealed a possible new high-temperature, high-pressure, crystal packing structure derived from the common mantle mineral perovskite.

Noting that recent research has also hypothesized the existence above and below the D" layer of discontinuities in the velocities of seismic waves, Hernlund and Labrosse investigate whether such discontinuities are theoretically predicted by mineral physics.

Using independent constraints for a lower bound on temperature in the Earth's deep mantle and for the temperature of the Earth's inner core boundary, the authors examine the nature of the transition between perovskite phases, as hypothesized by the existence of the D" layer and the observed seismic velocity anomalies. They find it consistent only with part of the range of uncertainties in current knowledge of the pressure-temperature behavior of minerals at such depths.

Title: Geophysically consistent values of the perovskite to post-perovskite transition Clapeyron slope

Authors: J. W. Hernlund: Institute de Physique du Globe de Paris, Paris, France; S. Labrosse: Laboratoire des Sciences de la Terre, École Normale Supérieure de Lyon, Lyon, France

Source: Geophysical Research Letters (GRL) paper 10.1029/2006GL028961, 2007


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American Geophysical Union. "Mineral Physics Illuminates Lower Mantle Hypothesis." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 24 March 2007. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/03/070322110408.htm>.
American Geophysical Union. (2007, March 24). Mineral Physics Illuminates Lower Mantle Hypothesis. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 28, 2024 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/03/070322110408.htm
American Geophysical Union. "Mineral Physics Illuminates Lower Mantle Hypothesis." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/03/070322110408.htm (accessed March 28, 2024).

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