• Search Research Projects
  • Search Researchers
  • How to Use
  1. Back to previous page

Constraining Earth's Lower Mantle Point Defect Chemistry from the Charge Disproportionation of Iron

Research Project

Project/Area Number 20K14580
Research Category

Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists

Allocation TypeMulti-year Fund
Review Section Basic Section 17040:Solid earth sciences-related
Research InstitutionEhime University

Principal Investigator

RITTERBEX S  愛媛大学, 地球深部ダイナミクス研究センター, 特定研究員 (00791782)

Project Period (FY) 2020-04-01 – 2023-03-31
Project Status Discontinued (Fiscal Year 2022)
Budget Amount *help
¥4,160,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,200,000、Indirect Cost: ¥960,000)
Fiscal Year 2023: ¥910,000 (Direct Cost: ¥700,000、Indirect Cost: ¥210,000)
Fiscal Year 2022: ¥1,040,000 (Direct Cost: ¥800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥240,000)
Fiscal Year 2021: ¥1,040,000 (Direct Cost: ¥800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥240,000)
Fiscal Year 2020: ¥1,170,000 (Direct Cost: ¥900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥270,000)
KeywordsGrain boundaries / Ferropericlase / Mechanical behavior / Earth's mantle / Super-Earth exoplanets / Iron partitioning / Ab initio simulations / Critical shear strength / Ferrous Iron / Spin transition / Plastic deformation / Earth's lower mantle / Ideal shear strength / Grain boundary mobility / Super-Earth's mantle / Mantle rheology / Mantle defect chemistry
Outline of Research at the Start

The dynamics of the Earth, including its plate tectonics, is controlled by the flow of rocks through the motion of crystal defects. Atomic diffusion is a key process controlling this flow behavior which relies on the poorly constrained redox state of the rocky part of the Earth's deep interior. Using a theoretical mineral physics approach based on the "ab initio" methods, this research, conducted by Dr. Sebastian Ritterbex from the Geodynamics Research Center, Ehime University, aims to constrain the relation between the point defect chemistry and flow behavior of the Earth's deep interior.

Outline of Annual Research Achievements

This project aimed investigating the relation between crystal chemistry, lattice defects and the mechanical behavior of ferropericlase. We carried out atomistic simulations based on the density functional theory, conducted on Type I and II subsystems of the Information Technology Center at Nagoya University.
Results show iron to prefer specific grain boundary sites affecting the pressure-induced spin transition and grain boundary partitioning of iron. With those data, ideal shear strengths were determined. It has been shown that high-angle grain boundary motion is particularly accommodated by either shear-coupled migration or grain boundary sliding. The mechanical strengths were found to strongly vary with pressure resulting in grain boundary hardening and weakening across a broad pressure range. By considering the influence of iron spin state on grain boundary migration, we have shown that ferrous iron has a non-unique effect on the criticial shear strength of grain boundaries. In the mantle of super-Earth exoplanets, significant grain boundary weakening is observed to occur, providing a new mechanism of enhanced ductility with depth.

Report

(3 results)
  • 2022 Annual Research Report
  • 2021 Research-status Report
  • 2020 Research-status Report
  • Research Products

    (9 results)

All 2022 2021 2020 Other

All Int'l Joint Research (1 results) Journal Article (1 results) (of which Int'l Joint Research: 1 results,  Peer Reviewed: 1 results,  Open Access: 1 results) Presentation (7 results) (of which Int'l Joint Research: 6 results)

  • [Int'l Joint Research] Gemological Institute of America(米国)

    • Related Report
      2020 Research-status Report
  • [Journal Article] Novel configurations of VN4 and VN4H defects in diamond platelets: Structure, Energetics and vibrational properties2020

    • Author(s)
      T. Gu; S. Ritterbex; T. Tsuchiya; W. Wang
    • Journal Title

      Diamond & Related Materials

      Volume: 108 Pages: 107957-107957

    • DOI

      10.1016/j.diamond.2020.107957

    • Related Report
      2020 Research-status Report
    • Peer Reviewed / Open Access / Int'l Joint Research
  • [Presentation] Ab initio investigation of the intercrystalline mechanical behavior of ferropericlase at extreme pressures of planetary mantles2022

    • Author(s)
      S. Ritterbex, T. Tsuchiya
    • Organizer
      European Geosciences Union (EGU) General Assembly
    • Related Report
      2022 Annual Research Report
    • Int'l Joint Research
  • [Presentation] Viscous Strength of HPC Iron at Conditions of Earth’s Inner Core2021

    • Author(s)
      S. Ritterbex; T. Tsuchiya
    • Organizer
      European Geosciences Union (EGU) General Assembly
    • Related Report
      2021 Research-status Report
    • Int'l Joint Research
  • [Presentation] First-principles study of the mechanical behavior of (Mg,Fe)O tilt grain boundaries in planetary mantles2021

    • Author(s)
      S. Ritterbex; T. Tsuchiya
    • Organizer
      Japan Geoscience Union Meeting (JpGU)
    • Related Report
      2021 Research-status Report
    • Int'l Joint Research
  • [Presentation] Viscosity of hcp iron and its implications for the dynamics of Earth’s inner core2021

    • Author(s)
      S. Ritterbex; T. Tsuchiya
    • Organizer
      Asia Oceania Geosciences Society Meeting (AOGS)
    • Related Report
      2021 Research-status Report
    • Int'l Joint Research
  • [Presentation] Ab-initio Investigation of Earth’s Lower Mantle Defect Chemistry2021

    • Author(s)
      S. Ritterbex
    • Organizer
      8th HPCI System Research Project Meeting of the Research Organization for Information Science and Technology (RIST)
    • Related Report
      2021 Research-status Report
  • [Presentation] Spin transition in (Mg,Fe)O tilt grain boundaries across the Earth's lower mantle2020

    • Author(s)
      S. Ritterbex and T. Tsuchiya
    • Organizer
      JpGU-AGU Joint Meeting 2020 (Japan Geoscience Union Meeting)
    • Related Report
      2020 Research-status Report
    • Int'l Joint Research
  • [Presentation] Is the Earth’s transition zone deforming like the upper mantle?2020

    • Author(s)
      S. Ritterbex, Ph. Carrez and Patrick Cordier
    • Organizer
      AGU Fall Meeting 2020 (American Geophysical Union)
    • Related Report
      2020 Research-status Report
    • Int'l Joint Research

URL: 

Published: 2020-04-28   Modified: 2023-12-25  

Information User Guide FAQ News Terms of Use Attribution of KAKENHI

Powered by NII kakenhi