Deformation and seismic anisotropy of silicate post-perovskite in the Earth's lowermost mantle
Abstract
The D' layer in the Earth's lowermost mantle with an average thickness of 250 km right above the core-mantle boundary plays a significant role in the geophysics, geochemistry, and geodynamics of the planet's interior. Seismic observations of the region have shown a number of enigmatic features including shear wave discontinuity and seismic wave anisotropy. The seismic anisotropy, in which the horizontally-polarized shear wave (VSH) travels faster than the vertically-polarized shear wave (VSV) by 1%~3% in areas below the circum Pacific, has been proposed to be a result of the lattice-preferred orientation of silicate post-perovskite (PPv) that is to be the most abundant phase in the D' layer [1]. Therefore, understanding the elasticity and deformation of the PPv phase is critical under relevant P-T conditions of the region. However, experimental results on the textures and the elastic anisotropy of PPv remain largely limited and controversial. Specifically, a number of slip systems of PPv, such as (010), (100), (110) and (001), have been proposed based on experimental and theoretical results [2-4]. Here we have studied the textures and deformation mechanism of iron-bearing PPv ((Mg0.75,Fe0.25)SiO3) at relevant P-T conditions of the lowermost mantle using synchrotron radiation radial x-ray diffraction in a membrane-driven laser-heated diamond anvil cell. The diffraction patterns were recorded from the laser-heated PPv sample during further compression between 130 GPa and 150 GPa. Analyses of the diffraction patterns and simulation results from viscoplastic self-consistent polycrystal plasticity code (VPSC) show that the development of active slip systems can be strongly influenced by experimental pressure-temperature-time conditions. At relevant P-T conditions of the lowermost mantle, our results demonstrate that the dominant slip systems of PPv should be (001)[100] and (001)[010]. Combined these results with the elasticity of PPv, we provide more constrains on the geodynamic model and interpret the potential mechanism of the seismic anisotropy origin of the D' layer. [1] Nowacki A, Wookey J, and Kendall, Nature 467, 1091 (2010). [2] Merkel S, McNamara A K, Kubo A, Speziale S, Miyagi L, Meng Y, Duffy T S, and Wenk H R, Science 316, 1729 (2007). [3] Miyagi L, Kanitpanyacharoen W, Kaercher P, Lee K K M, and Wenk H R, Sicence 329, 1639 (2010). [4] Metsue A, and Tsuchiya T, Proc. Jpn. Acad., Ser. B89, 51 (2013).
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2013
- Bibcode:
- 2013AGUFMMR21A2318W
- Keywords:
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- 3900 MINERAL PHYSICS