Lower mantle heterogeneities

Thermal and/or chemical heterogeneities in the mantle might be produced by primordial mantle materials, chemical differentiation during mantle convection, and subduction of oceanic crust throughout Earth’s history, some of which have been revealed by seismic and chemical observations (Figure after Marquardt and Thomson 2020). Quantitative understanding of the physical and chemical properties of mantle materials are required to precisely explain seismic velocity structures and compositional reservoirs.

I am conducting various experiments and modeling to investigate the physical and chemical properties of mantle minerals, especially bridgmanite and post-perovskite: (1) spin transition of Fe in bridgmanite/post-perovskite and its effects; (2) valance state and concentration of Fe in bridgmanite/post-perovskite and their effects; (3) thermal and chemical dependence of bridgmanite to post-perovskite transition; (4) compositional modelling of global and regional seismic heterogeneities.