Peering down through the layers that make up Earth – the crust, the upper mantle, the lower mantle, and the core – is no easy task.
Now scientists think they have discovered a new mineral in the lower mantle, a section that makes up 55 percent of the total volume of Earth.
Through a series of high-pressure heating experiments in a special chamber, the researchers attempted to simulate the conditions throughout the lower mantle. Crucially, they increased temperatures very quickly, reaching around 1,650 to 1,925 degrees Celsius in less than a second, before rising to temperatures of around 2,800 degrees Celsius.
This points to the deeper part of the lower mantle having a different mineralogy mix to the section higher up, because of the greater temperature and pressure. A merging of bridgmanite and davemaoite lower down would add an extra mineral to consider, and the researchers think that iron probably plays an important role.
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