Outer core dynamics

2022 ◽  
pp. 115-177
Author(s):  
Vernon F. Cormier ◽  
Michael I. Bergman ◽  
Peter L. Olson
Keyword(s):  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2090 (1) ◽  
pp. 012030
Author(s):  
K Peqini ◽  
D Prenga ◽  
R Osmanaj

Abstract The geomagnetic field is among the most striking features of the Earth. By far the most important ingredient of it is generate in the fluid conductive outer core and it is known as the main field. It is characterized by a strong dipolar component as measured on the Earth’s surface. It is well established the fact that the dipolar component has reversed polarity many times, a phenomenon dubbed as dipolar field reversal (DFR). There have been proposed numerous models focused on describing the statistical features of the occurrence of such phenomena. One of them is the domino model, a simple toy model that despite its simplicity displays a very rich dynamic. This model incorporates several aspects of the outer core dynamics like the effect of rotation of Earth, the appearance of convective columns which create their own magnetic field, etc. In this paper we analyse the phase space of parameters of the model and identify several regimes. The two main regimes are the polarity changing one and the regime where the polarity remains the same. Also, we draw some scaling laws that characterize the relationship between the parameters and the mean time between reversals (mtr), the main output of the model.


2018 ◽  
Vol 470 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Pastor-Galán ◽  
R. Damian Nance ◽  
J. Brendan Murphy ◽  
Christopher J. Spencer

AbstractThere is an emerging consensus that Earth's landmasses amalgamate quasi-periodically into supercontinents, interpreted to be rigid super-plates essentially lacking tectonically active inner boundaries and showing little internal lithosphere–mantle interactions. The formation and disruption of supercontinents have been linked to changes in sea-level, biogeochemical cycles, global climate change, continental margin sedimentation, large igneous provinces, deep mantle circulation, outer core dynamics and Earth's magnetic field. If these hypotheses are correct, long-term mantle dynamics and much of the geological record, including the distribution of natural resources, may be largely controlled by these cycles. Despite their potential importance, however, many of these proposed links are, to date, permissive rather than proven. Sufficient data are not yet available to verify or fully understand the implications of the supercontinent cycle. Recent advances in many fields of geoscience provide clear directions for investigating the supercontinent cycle hypothesis and its corollaries but they need to be vigorously pursued if these far-reaching ideas are to be substantiated.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. A. Campuzano ◽  
F. J. Pavón-Carrasco ◽  
A. De Santis ◽  
A. González-López ◽  
E. Qamili

Geomagnetic jerks are sudden changes in the geomagnetic field secular variation related to changes in outer core flow patterns. Finding geophysical phenomena related to geomagnetic jerks provides a vital contribution to better understand the geomagnetic field behavior. Here, we link the geomagnetic jerks occurrence with one of the most relevant features of the geomagnetic field nowadays, the South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA), which is due to the presence of reversed flux patches (RFPs) at the Core-Mantle Boundary (CMB). Our results show that minima of acceleration of the areal extent of SAA calculated using the CHAOS-7 model (CHAOS-7.2 release) coincide with the occurrence of geomagnetic jerks for the last 2 decades. In addition, a new pulse in the secular acceleration of the radial component of the geomagnetic field has been observed at the CMB, with a maximum in 2016.2 and a minimum in 2017.5. This fact, along with the minimum observed in 2017.8 in the acceleration of the areal extent of SAA, could point to a new geomagnetic jerk. We have also analyzed the acceleration of the areal extent of South American and African RFPs at the CMB related to the presence of the SAA at surface and have registered minima in the same periods when they are observed in the SAA at surface. This reinforces the link found and would indicate that physical processes that produce the RFPs, and in turn the SAA evolution, contribute to the core dynamics at the origin of jerks.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christophe Pagnout ◽  
Angelina Razafitianamaharavo ◽  
Bénédicte Sohm ◽  
Céline Caillet ◽  
Audrey Beaussart ◽  
...  

AbstractToxicity mechanisms of metal oxide nanoparticles towards bacteria and underlying roles of membrane composition are still debated. Herein, the response of lipopolysaccharide-truncated Escherichia coli K12 mutants to TiO2 nanoparticles (TiO2NPs, exposure in dark) is addressed at the molecular, single cell, and population levels by transcriptomics, fluorescence assays, cell nanomechanics and electrohydrodynamics. We show that outer core-free lipopolysaccharides featuring intact inner core increase cell sensitivity to TiO2NPs. TiO2NPs operate as membrane strippers, which induce osmotic stress, inactivate cell osmoregulation and initiate lipid peroxidation, which ultimately leads to genesis of membrane vesicles. In itself, truncation of lipopolysaccharide inner core triggers membrane permeabilization/depolarization, lipid peroxidation and hypervesiculation. In turn, it favors the regulation of TiO2NP-mediated changes in cell Turgor stress and leads to efficient vesicle-facilitated release of damaged membrane components. Remarkably, vesicles further act as electrostatic baits for TiO2NPs, thereby mitigating TiO2NPs toxicity. Altogether, we highlight antagonistic lipopolysaccharide-dependent bacterial responses to nanoparticles and we show that the destabilized membrane can generate unexpected resistance phenotype.


Minerals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 516
Author(s):  
Timofey Fedotenko ◽  
Saiana Khandarkhaeva ◽  
Leonid Dubrovinsky ◽  
Konstantin Glazyrin ◽  
Pavel Sedmak ◽  
...  

We report the high-pressure synthesis and the equation of state (EOS) of a novel nickel carbide (Ni3C). It was synthesized in a diamond anvil cell at 184(5) GPa through a direct reaction of a nickel powder with carbon from the diamond anvils upon heating at 3500 (200) K. Ni3C has the cementite-type structure (Pnma space group, a = 4.519(2) Å, b = 5.801(2) Å, c = 4.009(3) Å), which was solved and refined based on in-situ synchrotron single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The pressure-volume data of Ni3C was obtained on decompression at room temperature and fitted to the 3rd order Burch-Murnaghan equation of state with the following parameters: V0 = 147.7(8) Å3, K0 = 157(10) GPa, and K0' = 7.8(6). Our results contribute to the understanding of the phase composition and properties of Earth’s outer core.


2020 ◽  
Vol 499 (3) ◽  
pp. 3690-3705
Author(s):  
M Antonelli ◽  
B Haskell

ABSTRACT Understanding the average motion of a multitude of superfluid vortices in the interior of a neutron star is a key ingredient for most theories of pulsar glitches. In this paper, we propose a kinetic approach to compute the mutual friction force that is responsible for the momentum exchange between the normal and superfluid components in a neutron star, where the mutual friction is extracted from a suitable average over the motion of many vortex lines. As a first step towards a better modelling of the repinning and depinning processes of many vortex lines in a neutron star, we consider here only straight and non-interacting vortices: we adopt a minimal model for the dynamics of an ensemble of point vortices in two dimensions immersed in a non-homogeneous medium that acts as a pinning landscape. Since the degree of disorder in the inner crust or outer core of a neutron star is unknown, we compare the two possible scenarios of periodic and disordered pinscapes. This approach allows us to extract the mutual friction between the superfluid and the normal component in the star when, in addition to the usual Magnus and drag forces acting on vortex lines, also a pinning force is at work. The effect of disorder on the depinning transition is also discussed.


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