@article{KrstulovićRosaFerreiraSanchezetal.2022,
  author    = {Krstulović, Marija and Rosa, Angelika D. and Ferreira Sanchez, Dario and Libon, L{\´e}lia and Albers, Christian and Merkulova, Margarita and Grolimund, Daniel and Irifune, Tetsuo and Wilke, Max},
  title     = {Effect of temperature on the densification of silicate melts to lower earth's mantle conditions},
  series = {Physics of the earth and planetary interiors},
  volume    = {323},
  journal   = {Physics of the earth and planetary interiors},
  publisher = {Elsevier},
  address   = {Amsterdam},
  issn      = {0031-9201},
  doi       = {10.1016/j.pepi.2021.106823},
  pages     = {13},
  year      = {2022},
  abstract  = {Physical properties of silicate melts play a key role for global planetary dynamics, controlling for example volcanic eruption styles, mantle convection and elemental cycling in the deep Earth. They are significantly modified by structural changes at the atomic scale due to external parameters such as pressure and temperature or due to chemistry. Structural rearrangements such as 4- to 6-fold coordination change of Si with increasing depth may profoundly influence melt properties, but have so far mostly been studied at ambient temperature due to experimental difficulties. In order to investigate the structural properties of silicate melts and their densification mechanisms at conditions relevant to the deep Earth's interior, we studied haplo basaltic glasses and melts (albite-diopside composition) at high pressure and temperature conditions in resistively and laser-heated diamond anvil cells using X-ray absorption near edge structure spectroscopy. Samples were doped with 10 wt\% of Ge, which is accessible with this experimental technique and which commonly serves as a structural analogue for the network forming cation Si. We acquired spectra on the Ge K edge up to 48 GPa and 5000 K and derived the average Ge-O coordination number NGe-O, and bond distance RGe-O as functions of pressure. Our results demonstrate a continuous transformation from tetrahedral to octahedral coordination between ca. 5 and 30 GPa at ambient temperature. Above 1600 K the data reveal a reduction of the pressure needed to complete conversion to octahedral coordination by ca. 30 \%. The results allow us to determine the influence of temperature on the Si coordination number changes in natural melts in the Earth's interior. We propose that the complete transition to octahedral coordination in basaltic melts is reached at about 40 GPa, corresponding to a depth of ca. 1200 km in the uppermost lower mantle. At the core-mantle boundary (2900 km, 130 GPa, 3000 K) the existence of non-buoyant melts has been proposed to explain observed low seismic wave velocity features. Our results highlight that the melt composition can affect the melt density at such extreme conditions and may strongly influence the structural response.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{GassnerThomasKruegeretal.2015,
  author    = {Gassner, Alexandra and Thomas, Christine and Kr{\"u}ger, Frank and Weber, Michael H.},
  title     = {Probing the core-mantle boundary beneath Europe and Western Eurasia: A detailed study using PcP},
  series = {Physics of the earth and planetary interiors},
  volume    = {246},
  journal   = {Physics of the earth and planetary interiors},
  publisher = {Elsevier},
  address   = {Amsterdam},
  issn      = {0031-9201},
  doi       = {10.1016/j.pepi.2015.06.007},
  pages     = {9 -- 24},
  year      = {2015},
  abstract  = {We use PcP (the core reflected P phase) recordings of deep earthquakes and nuclear explosions from the Grafenberg (Germany) and NORSAR (Norway) arrays to investigate the core-mantle boundary region beneath Europe and western Eurasia. We find evidence for a previously unknown ultra-low velocity zone 600 km south-east of Moscow, located at the edge of a middle-size low shear- velocity region imaged in seismic tomography that is located beneath the Volga river region. The observed amplitude variations of PcP can be modelled by velocity reductions of P and S-waves of -5\% and -15\%, respectively, with a density increase of +15\%. Travel time delays of pre-and postcursors are indicating a thickness of about 13 km for this ultra-low velocity region (ULVZ). However, our modelling also reveals highly ambiguous amplitude variations of PcP and a reflection off the top of the anomaly for various ULVZs and topography models. Accordingly, large velocity contrasts of up to -10\% in V-P and -20\% in Vs cannot be excluded. In general, the whole Volga river region shows a complex pattern of PcP amplitudes caused most likely by CMB undulations. Further PcP probes beneath Paris, Kiev and northern Italy indicate likely normal CMB conditions, whereas the samples below Finland and the Hungary-Slovakia border yield strongly amplified PcP signals suggesting strong CMB topography effects. We evaluate the amplitude behaviour of PcP as a function of distance and several ULVZ models using the 1D reflectivity and the 2D Gauss beam method. The influence of the velocity and density perturbations is analysed as well as the anomaly thickness, the dominant period of the source wavelet and interface topographies. Strong variation of the PcP amplitude are obtained as a function of distance and of the impedance contrast. We also consider two types of topographies: undulations atop the CMB in the presence of flat ULVZs and vice versa. Where a broad range of CMB topography dimensions lead to large PcP amplitude variations, only large ULVZ undulations generate significant amplitude scattering. Consequently, this indicates that topography effects of anomalies may mask the true medium parameters as well as the ULVZ thickness. Moreover, there might be a possibility of misinterpreting the precursor as PcP, in particular for thin ULVZs. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.},
  language  = {en}
}