Speaker: Bijaya Karki

Title: Calculations of elastic properties of major mantle minerals under pressure and temperature.

Date and Time: Friday, October 10th, 2003., 3:30 PM
Place: E130, Howe-Russell (Newer geology building)

Abstract:

The study of elastic properties of the materials that are known or believed to exist in Earth's interior forms a bridge between the observed seismic structure of the Earth and the properties and processes of the Earth at depth. I will present a review of first-principles study of elastic properties of major silicate and oxide minerals of the Earth's mantle. We have been calculating the full elastic constant tensors (Cij) as a function of pressure and temperature within the framework of density functional theory. These calculations provide the ideal compliment to the experiments and they require no input from experiments and have true predictive power. I will briefly talk about the techniques and will mainly focus on specific results of MgO, MgSiO3 perovskite. The predicted properties of geophysically relevant minerals can give a better insight into various seismological observations including radial velocity profile, lateral heterogeneity and anisotropy.