Jul, 2015
Computational support for a pyrolitic lower mantle containing ferric iron
NATURE GEOSCIENCE
- ,
- ,
- Volume
- 8
- Number
- 7
- First page
- 556
- Last page
- U97
- Language
- English
- Publishing type
- Research paper (scientific journal)
- DOI
- 10.1038/NGEO2458
- Publisher
- NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
The dominant minerals in Earth's lower mantle are thought to be Fe- and Al-bearing MgSiO3 bridgmanite and (Mg, Fe)O ferropericlase(1). However, experimental measurements of the elasticity of these minerals at realistic lower-mantle pressures and temperatures remain impractical. As a result, different compositional models for the Earth's lower mantle have been proposed(2-4). Theoretical simulations, which depend on empirical evaluations of the effects of Fe incorporation into these minerals, support a pyrolitic lower mantle that contains a significant amount of ferropericlase(5,6), much like the Earth's upper mantle. Here we present first-principles computations combined with a lattice dynamics approach that include the effects of Fe2+ and Fe3+ incorporation. We calculate the densities and elastic-wave velocities of several possible lower-mantle compositions with varying amounts of ferropericlase along a mantle geotherm. On the basis of our calculations of aggregate elasticities, we conclude that neither a perovskitic composition (about 9:1 bridgmanite to ferropericlase by volume) nor an olivine-like composition (about 7:3) reproduces the seismological reference model of average Earth properties. However, an intermediate volume fraction (about 8:2) consistent with a pyrolitic composition can reproduce the reference velocities and densities. Bridgmanite that is rich in ferric iron produces the best fit. Our findings support a uniform chemical composition throughout the present-day mantle, which we suggest is the result of whole-mantle convection.
- Link information
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- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/NGEO2458
- Web of Science
- https://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcAuth=JSTA_CEL&SrcApp=J_Gate_JST&DestLinkType=FullRecord&KeyUT=WOS:000357404200020&DestApp=WOS_CPL
- URL
- https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?partnerID=HzOxMe3b&scp=84934271692&origin=inward
- ID information
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- DOI : 10.1038/NGEO2458
- ISSN : 1752-0894
- eISSN : 1752-0908
- SCOPUS ID : 84934271692
- Web of Science ID : WOS:000357404200020