Deep Earth Physics and Chemistry of the Lower Mantle and Core Geophysical Monograph Series

Deep Earth: Physics and Chemistry of the Lower Mantle and Core highlights recent advances and the latest views of the deep Earth from theoretical, experimental, and observational approaches and offers insight into future research directions on the deep Earth. In recent years, we have just reached a stage where we can perform measurements at the conditions of the center part of the Earth using state-of-the-art techniques, and many reports on the physical and chemical properties of the deep Earth have come out very recently. Novel theoretical models have been complementary to this breakthrough. These new inputs enable us to compare directly with results of precise geophysical and geochemical observations. This volume highlights the recent significant advancements in our understanding of the deep Earth that have occurred as a result, including contributions from mineral/rock physics, geophysics, and geochemistry that relate to the topics of: 

I. Thermal structure of the lower mantle and core

II. Structure, anisotropy, and plasticity of deep Earth materials

III. Physical properties of the deep interior

IV. Chemistry and phase relations in the lower mantle and core

V. Volatiles in the deep Earth 

The volume will be a valuable resource for researchers and students who study the Earth's interior. The topics of this volume are multidisciplinary, and therefore will be useful to students from a wide variety of fields in the Earth Sciences. 

Preface ix

Part I: Thermal Strucure of Deep Earth 1

1 Melting of Fe Alloys and the Thermal Structure of the Core
Rebecca A. Fischer 3

2 Temperature of the Lower Mantle and Core Based on Ab Initio Mineral Physics Data
Taku Tsuchiya, Kenji Kawai, Xianlong Wang, Hiroki Ichikawa, and Haruhiko Dekura 13

3 Heat Transfer in the Core and Mantle
Abby Kavner and Emma S. G. Rainey 31

4 Thermal State and Evolution of the Earth Core and Deep Mantle
Stéphane Labrosse 43

Part II: Structures, Anisotropy, and Plasticity of Deep Earth Materials 55

5 Crystal Structures of Core Materials
Razvan Caracas 57

6 Crystal Structures of Minerals in the Lower Mantle
June K. Wicks and Thomas S. Duffy 69

7 Deformation of Core and Lower Mantle Materials
Sébastien Merkel and Patrick Cordier 89

8 Using Mineral Analogs to Understand the Deep Earth
Simon A. T. Redfern 101

Part III: Physical Properties of Deep Interior 111

9 Ground Truth: Seismological Properties of the Core
George Helffrich 113

10 Physical Properties of the Inner Core
Daniele Antonangeli 121

11 Physical Properties of the Outer Core
Hidenori Terasaki 129

Part IV: Chemistry and Phase Relations of Deep Interior 143

12 The Composition of the Lower Mantle and Core
William F. McDonough 145

13 Metal-Silicate Partitioning of Siderophile Elements and Core-Mantle Segregation
Kevin Righter 161

14 Mechanisms and Geochemical Models of Core Formation
David C. Rubie and Seth A. Jacobson 181

15 Phase Diagrams and Thermodynamics of Core Materials
Andrew J. Campbell  191

16 Chemistry of Core-Mantle Boundary
John W. Hernlund  201

17 Phase Transition and Melting in the Deep Lower Mantle
Kei Hirose  209

18 Chemistry of the Lower Mantle
Daniel J. Frost and Robert Myhill 225

19 Phase Diagrams and Thermodynamics of Lower Mantle Materials
Susannah M. Dorfman  241

Part V: Volatiles in Deep Interior 253

20 Hydrogen in the Earth’s Core: Review of the Structural, Elastic, and Thermodynamic Properties of Iron-Hydrogen Alloys
Caitlin A. Murphy 255

21 Stability of Hydrous Minerals and Water Reservoirs in the Deep Earth Interior
Eiji Ohtani, Yohei Amaike, Seiji Kamada, Itaru Ohira, and Izumi Mashino 265

22 Carbon in the Core
Bin Chen and Jie Li  277

Index 289

Hidenori Terasaki is a Professor in the Department of Earth and Space Science at Osaka University. Hidenori’s research focuses on studying the earth interior composition, with particular emphasis on measuring density, viscosity, interfacial tension, temperature and pressure related to mantle and core properties and formation. He is a recipient of the young scientist research award in the Mineralogical Society of Japan and Japan Society of High Pressure Science and Technology. He is a member of the American Geophysical Union, The Japan Society of High Pressure Science and Technology, The Iron and Steel Institute of Japan, Japan Association of Mineralogical Sciences and The Japanese Society for Planetary Science.

Rebecca Fischer is a PhD candidate in the Department of the Geophysical Sciences at the University of Chicago. Her research focuses on the formation and chemical evolution of the Earth, with particular focus emphasis on the physical and chemical properties of minerals and melts at extreme conditions. She uses diamond anvil cells and laser-heating to experimentally recreate the high pressures (up to >150 GPa) and high temperatures (several thousand K) of the Earth’s deep interior, combined with numerical simulations of accretion. She has been the recipient of organizational fellowships and scholarships (NSF) for her scholarly research on the Interior of the Earth.