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High-pressure sound velocity of perovskite-enstatite and the possible composition of the Earth’s lower mantle

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Chinese Science Bulletin

Abstract

The compressional sound velocity Vp for enstatite of polycrystalline specimens were measured at pressures from 40 to 140 GPa using the optical analytical techniques under shock loading. The dependence of VP, (in km/s) on Hugoniot pressure (P, in GPa) can be described by InVp= 3.079-0.691 In(P) + 0.094(lnP)2. Vp satisfies Birch’s law:V p = 4.068 + 1.677ρ, where ρ is corresponding density, which indicated that enstatite is stable throughout the conditions of the lower mantle. The wave velocityP is 0.5% lower and the wave velocity S is 2% higher than that of PREM respectively. We concluded that the lower mantle is mainly composed of perovskite-(Mg1-x, Fex) SiO3 and only a small amount of (Mg1-x, Fex) O is allowed in it.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Material Laboratory of the Earth’s Interior, Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 550002, Guiyang, China

    Zizheng Gong, Hongsen Xie & Jie Guo

  2. Laboratory for Shock Waves and Detonation Physics Research, Southwest Institute of Fluid Physics, 610003, Chengdu, China

    Zizheng Gong, Hui Huo, Fuqian Jing & Ji’an Xu

  3. Institute of Geosciences, Academia Sinica, 11529, Taipei, China

    Ji’an Xu

Authors
  1. Zizheng Gong
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  2. Hongsen Xie
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  3. Hui Huo
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  4. Fuqian Jing
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  5. Jie Guo
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  6. Ji’an Xu
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Correspondence to Zizheng Gong.

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Gong, Z., Xie, H., Huo, H. et al. High-pressure sound velocity of perovskite-enstatite and the possible composition of the Earth’s lower mantle. Chin.Sci.Bull. 45, 921–925 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02886201

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02886201

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