IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nature/v466y2010i7307d10.1038_nature09257.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Melting-induced stratification above the Earth’s inner core due to convective translation

Author

Listed:
  • Thierry Alboussière

    (Laboratoire de Géophysique Interne et Tectonophysique, CNRS, Observatoire de Grenoble, Université Joseph Fourier, Maison des Géosciences, BP 53, 38041 Grenoble Cedex 9, France
    Université de Lyon, CNRS UMR5570, site UCB Lyon 1, 2 rue Raphaël Dubois, bâtiment Géode, 69622 Villeurbanne, Université Lyon 1)

  • Renaud Deguen

    (Laboratoire de Géophysique Interne et Tectonophysique, CNRS, Observatoire de Grenoble, Université Joseph Fourier, Maison des Géosciences, BP 53, 38041 Grenoble Cedex 9, France
    Johns Hopkins University)

  • Mickaël Melzani

    (Laboratoire de Géophysique Interne et Tectonophysique, CNRS, Observatoire de Grenoble, Université Joseph Fourier, Maison des Géosciences, BP 53, 38041 Grenoble Cedex 9, France)

Abstract

Melting-induced core anomalies Several observed properties of Earth's solid inner core and liquid outer core remain enigmatic, including an east–west seismic asymmetry and the presence of a roughly 250-kilometre-thick layer of reduced seismic velocity at the base of the outer core. Alboussière et al. now suggest a model that can produce both of these features. Based on experiment and numerical modelling, they propose that simultaneous crystallization and melting at opposite sides of Earth's inner-core surface can result in a translational mode of thermal convection within the inner core, which also introduces an asymmetry between hemispheres.

Suggested Citation

  • Thierry Alboussière & Renaud Deguen & Mickaël Melzani, 2010. "Melting-induced stratification above the Earth’s inner core due to convective translation," Nature, Nature, vol. 466(7307), pages 744-747, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:466:y:2010:i:7307:d:10.1038_nature09257
    DOI: 10.1038/nature09257
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/nature09257
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/nature09257?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Shichuan Sun & Yu He & Junyi Yang & Yufeng Lin & Jinfeng Li & Duck Young Kim & Heping Li & Ho-kwang Mao, 2023. "Superionic effect and anisotropic texture in Earth’s inner core driven by geomagnetic field," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-8, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:466:y:2010:i:7307:d:10.1038_nature09257. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.