Multidisciplinary Constraints on the Thermal‐Chemical Boundary Between Earth's Core and Mantle
Abstract Heat flux from the core to the mantle provides driving energy for mantle convection thus powering plate tectonics, and contributes a significant fraction of the geothermal heat budget. Indirect estimates of core‐mantle boundary heat flow are typically based on petrological evidence of mantl...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Wiley
2022-03-01
|
| Series: | Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GC009764 |
| _version_ | 1797637933323255808 |
|---|---|
| author | Daniel A. Frost Margaret S. Avery Bruce A. Buffett Bethany A. Chidester Jie Deng Susannah M. Dorfman Zhi Li Lijun Liu Mingda Lv Joshua F. Martin |
| author_facet | Daniel A. Frost Margaret S. Avery Bruce A. Buffett Bethany A. Chidester Jie Deng Susannah M. Dorfman Zhi Li Lijun Liu Mingda Lv Joshua F. Martin |
| author_sort | Daniel A. Frost |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Heat flux from the core to the mantle provides driving energy for mantle convection thus powering plate tectonics, and contributes a significant fraction of the geothermal heat budget. Indirect estimates of core‐mantle boundary heat flow are typically based on petrological evidence of mantle temperature, interpretations of temperatures indicated by seismic travel times, experimental measurements of mineral melting points, physical mantle convection models, or physical core convection models. However, previous estimates have not consistently integrated these lines of evidence. In this work, an interdisciplinary analysis is applied to co‐constrain core‐mantle boundary heat flow and test the thermal boundary layer (TBL) theory. The concurrence of TBL models, energy balance to support geomagnetism, seismology, and review of petrologic evidence for historic mantle temperatures supports QCMB ∼15 TW, with all except geomagnetism supporting as high as ∼20 TW. These values provide a tighter constraint on core heat flux relative to previous work. Our work describes the seismic properties consistent with a TBL, and supports a long‐lived basal mantle molten layer through much of Earth's history. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T12:56:19Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-3c6de0d67a1a40b0a64f69449d155d88 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1525-2027 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T12:56:19Z |
| publishDate | 2022-03-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems |
| spelling | doaj.art-3c6de0d67a1a40b0a64f69449d155d882023-11-03T17:01:01ZengWileyGeochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems1525-20272022-03-01233n/an/a10.1029/2021GC009764Multidisciplinary Constraints on the Thermal‐Chemical Boundary Between Earth's Core and MantleDaniel A. Frost0Margaret S. Avery1Bruce A. Buffett2Bethany A. Chidester3Jie Deng4Susannah M. Dorfman5Zhi Li6Lijun Liu7Mingda Lv8Joshua F. Martin9University of California, Berkeley Berkeley CA USAUniversity of California, Berkeley Berkeley CA USAUniversity of California, Berkeley Berkeley CA USAUniversity of California, Davis Davis CA USAUniversity of California, Los Angeles Los Angeles CA USAMichigan State University East Lansing MI USAUniversity of Cambridge Cambridge UKUniversity of Illinois at Urbana‐Champaign Champaign IL USAMichigan State University East Lansing MI USAThe Ohio State University Columbus OH USAAbstract Heat flux from the core to the mantle provides driving energy for mantle convection thus powering plate tectonics, and contributes a significant fraction of the geothermal heat budget. Indirect estimates of core‐mantle boundary heat flow are typically based on petrological evidence of mantle temperature, interpretations of temperatures indicated by seismic travel times, experimental measurements of mineral melting points, physical mantle convection models, or physical core convection models. However, previous estimates have not consistently integrated these lines of evidence. In this work, an interdisciplinary analysis is applied to co‐constrain core‐mantle boundary heat flow and test the thermal boundary layer (TBL) theory. The concurrence of TBL models, energy balance to support geomagnetism, seismology, and review of petrologic evidence for historic mantle temperatures supports QCMB ∼15 TW, with all except geomagnetism supporting as high as ∼20 TW. These values provide a tighter constraint on core heat flux relative to previous work. Our work describes the seismic properties consistent with a TBL, and supports a long‐lived basal mantle molten layer through much of Earth's history.https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GC009764heat budgetthermal boundary layerpetrologygeodynamicsgeomagneticsseismology |
| spellingShingle | Daniel A. Frost Margaret S. Avery Bruce A. Buffett Bethany A. Chidester Jie Deng Susannah M. Dorfman Zhi Li Lijun Liu Mingda Lv Joshua F. Martin Multidisciplinary Constraints on the Thermal‐Chemical Boundary Between Earth's Core and Mantle Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems heat budget thermal boundary layer petrology geodynamics geomagnetics seismology |
| title | Multidisciplinary Constraints on the Thermal‐Chemical Boundary Between Earth's Core and Mantle |
| title_full | Multidisciplinary Constraints on the Thermal‐Chemical Boundary Between Earth's Core and Mantle |
| title_fullStr | Multidisciplinary Constraints on the Thermal‐Chemical Boundary Between Earth's Core and Mantle |
| title_full_unstemmed | Multidisciplinary Constraints on the Thermal‐Chemical Boundary Between Earth's Core and Mantle |
| title_short | Multidisciplinary Constraints on the Thermal‐Chemical Boundary Between Earth's Core and Mantle |
| title_sort | multidisciplinary constraints on the thermal chemical boundary between earth s core and mantle |
| topic | heat budget thermal boundary layer petrology geodynamics geomagnetics seismology |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GC009764 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT danielafrost multidisciplinaryconstraintsonthethermalchemicalboundarybetweenearthscoreandmantle AT margaretsavery multidisciplinaryconstraintsonthethermalchemicalboundarybetweenearthscoreandmantle AT bruceabuffett multidisciplinaryconstraintsonthethermalchemicalboundarybetweenearthscoreandmantle AT bethanyachidester multidisciplinaryconstraintsonthethermalchemicalboundarybetweenearthscoreandmantle AT jiedeng multidisciplinaryconstraintsonthethermalchemicalboundarybetweenearthscoreandmantle AT susannahmdorfman multidisciplinaryconstraintsonthethermalchemicalboundarybetweenearthscoreandmantle AT zhili multidisciplinaryconstraintsonthethermalchemicalboundarybetweenearthscoreandmantle AT lijunliu multidisciplinaryconstraintsonthethermalchemicalboundarybetweenearthscoreandmantle AT mingdalv multidisciplinaryconstraintsonthethermalchemicalboundarybetweenearthscoreandmantle AT joshuafmartin multidisciplinaryconstraintsonthethermalchemicalboundarybetweenearthscoreandmantle |