Thermal conductivity of Fe-Si alloys and thermal stratification in Earth’s core

Light elements in Earth’s core play a key role in driving convection and influencing geodynamics, both of which are crucial to the geodynamo. However, the thermal transport properties of iron alloys at high-pressure and -temperature conditions remain uncertain. Here we investigate the transport properties of solid hexagonal close-packed and liquid Fe-Si alloys with 4.3 and 9.0 wt % Si at high pressure and temperature using laser-heated diamond anvil cell experiments and first-principles molecular dynamics and dynamical mean field theory calculations. In contrast to the case of Fe, Si impurity scattering gradually dominates the total scattering in Fe-Si alloys with increasing Si concentration, leading to temperature independence of the resistivity and less electron–electron contribution to the conductivity in Fe-9Si. Our results show a thermal conductivity of ∼100 to 110 W⋅m−1⋅K−1 for liquid Fe-9Si near the topmost outer core. If Earth’s core consists of a large amount of silicon (e.g., > 4.3 wt %) with such a high thermal conductivity, a subadiabatic heat flow across the core–mantle boundary is likely, leaving a 400- to 500-km-deep thermally stratified layer below the core–mantle boundary, and challenges proposed thermal convection in Fe-Si liquid outer core.

Interiors of Terrestrial Planets in Metric-Affine Gravity

Using a semiempirical approach, we show that modified gravity affects the internal properties of terrestrial planets, such as their physical characteristics of a core, mantle, and core–mantle boundary. We also apply these findings for modeling a two-layer exoplanet in Palatini f(R) gravity.

Kilometer-scale structure on the core-mantle boundary at the source of the Hawaiian mantle plume

The lowermost mantle right above the core-mantle boundary is highly heterogeneous containing multiple poorly understood seismic features visible across a wide range of length scales. The smallest but most extreme heterogeneities yet observed are 'Ultra-Low Velocity Zones' (ULVZ), several of which have recently been linked to the base of mantle plumes. We exploit seismic shear waves that diffract along the core-mantle boundary to provide new insight into these enigmatic structures. We demonstrate that these waves have a strong frequency-dependent sensitivity to structure at different length scales above the core-mantle boundary. We measure a rare core-diffracted signal refracted by a ULVZ at the base of the Hawaiian mantle plume at unprecedentedly high frequencies. This signal shows remarkably longer time delays at higher compared to lower frequencies, indicating extreme internal variability within the Hawaiian ULVZ. Utilizing the latest computational advances in 3D synthetic waveform modeling, we are able to model this high frequency signal and constrain high-resolution structure on the scale of kilometers at the core-mantle boundary, for the first time. Results reveal that the lowermost part of the Hawaiian ULVZ is extremely reduced in shear wave velocity, by up to -40%. This new observation suggests a chemically distinct ULVZ with increasing iron content towards the core-mantle boundary, which has implications for Earth’s early evolutionary history and core-mantle interaction.

Mantle Electrical Conductivity and the Magnetic Field at the Core–Mantle Boundary

The Earth’s magnetic field is measured on and above the crust, while the turbulent dynamo in the outer core produces magnetic field values at the core–mantle boundary (CMB). The connection between the two sets of values is usually assumed to be independent of the electrical conductivity in the mantle. However, the turbulent magnetofluid in the Earth’s outer core produces a time-varying magnetic field that must induce currents in the lower mantle as it emerges, since the mantle is observed to be electrically conductive. Here, we develop a model to assess the possible effects of mantle electrical conductivity on the magnetic field values at the CMB. This model uses a new method for mapping the geomagnetic field from the Earth’s surface to the CMB. Since numerical and theoretical results suggest that the turbulent magnetic field in the outer core as it approaches the CMB is mostly parallel to this boundary, we assume that this property exists and set the normal component of the model magnetic field to zero at the CMB. This leads to a modification of the Mauersberger–Lowes spectrum at the CMB so that it is no longer flat, i.e., the modified spectrum depends on mantle conductance. We examined several cases in which mantle conductance ranges from low to high in order to gauge how CMB magnetic field strength and mantle ohmic heat generation may vary.

Preliminary Results of Receiver Function Forward Velocity Modelling at Merapi Volcano

The tectonic setting of Java island, located at southwestern edge of the Eurasia continent, is dominated by the subduction of Indo-Australia plate. One of the characteristics of active subduction is active seismicity, the generation of arc magmatism and volcanic activity. Mt. Merapi is one example of active volcano related with the subduction process. It is one of the most active volcanoes with location close to high population area. To better understand this area, we employed the Receiver Function technique, a method to image sub surface structure by removing the vertical component from horizontal component. First, we collected high magnitude events and processed RF with water level deconvolution method. Then, we constructed synthetic model with initial velocity input from previous tomography model. Note that we used reflectivity method in generating synthetic model with input parameters matched with parameters from real data processing. Next, we adjusted velocity inputs mainly on tops sediments (1-3 km) to include sediment layers and volcanic rocks, mid-depth low velocity zone that may be related with magma chamber and depth of crust-mantle boundary. Current forward velocity models show a relatively good agreement from 3 stations (ME25, ME32 and ME36). We estimate a thin layer of sediments followed a zone of velocity layer at a depth of 10-15 km and crust-mantle boundary ranging from 26-29 km. In this study, simulated that the signal of sediments layer and low velocity layers interfere main crust mantle boundary that supposed to be highest signal after the P wave in the typical receiver function study.

Internal lithospheric rotation at the initiation of intra-oceanic rift-drift: An example of proto-transform tectonics from the Vourinos Ophiolite, Greece

ABSTRACT The “petrological Moho” recognized in the Jurassic Vourinos Ophiolite (northern Greece) was the first “crust-mantle” boundary described within a fossil oceanic lithosphere. Early observations suggested a Cenozoic brittle-field block rotation of the petrological Moho transition area resulting in an oblique clockwise rotation of ∼100°, but a brittle fault system responsible for the mechanism of this rotation was never located. A modern interpretation of research dating from the 1960s to the present documents the occurrence of a diverse set of ductile structures overprinting this primary intra-oceanic feature. The following observations from our original “Moho” studies in the Vourinos complex are still pertinent: the contact between the upper mantle units and the magmatic crustal sequence is in situ and intrusional in nature; high-temperature intragranular ductile deformation (mantle creep at temperatures from around 1200 °C down to ∼900 °C) fabrics terminate at the crust-mantle boundary; the overlying oceanic crustal rocks display geochemical fractionation patterns analogous to crustal rocks in the in situ oceanic lithosphere. Since these original studies, however, understanding the mechanisms of ductile deformation and ridge crest processes have advanced, and hence we can now interpret the older data and recent observations in a new paradigm of oceanic lithosphere formation. Our major interpretational breakthrough includes the following phenomena: lower temperature, intergranular deformation of ∼900 °C to 700 °C extends from the upper mantle tectonites up into the lower crustal cumulate section; the origin of mineral lineations within adcumulate crustal rocks as remnants of ductile deformation during early phases of magmatic crystallization; syn-magmatic folding and rotation of the cumulate section; the tectonic significance of flaser gabbro and late gabbroic intrusions in the crustal sequence; and the relevance and significance of a cumulate troctolite unit within the crustal sequence. These observations collectively point to an important process of a ductile-field, syn-magmatic rotation of the Moho transition area. The most plausible mechanism explaining such a rotation is proto-transform faulting deformation near the ridge crest. By recognizing and distinguishing structures that resulted from such initial rotational deformation in the upper mantle peridotites of ophiolites, future field-based structural, petrographic, and petrological studies can better document the mode of the initiation of oceanic transform faults.