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

Earth History Revealed by Iron Electrons in Dense Core-Mantle Boundary Provinces

Research Project

Project/Area Number 23K03524
Research Category

Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)

Allocation TypeMulti-year Fund
Section一般
Review Section Basic Section 17040:Solid earth sciences-related
Research InstitutionTokyo Institute of Technology

Principal Investigator

ハウザー クリスティーン  東京工業大学, 地球生命研究所, 特任助教 (20723737)

Project Period (FY) 2023-04-01 – 2026-03-31
Project Status Granted (Fiscal Year 2023)
Budget Amount *help
¥2,470,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥570,000)
Fiscal Year 2025: ¥520,000 (Direct Cost: ¥400,000、Indirect Cost: ¥120,000)
Fiscal Year 2024: ¥1,430,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥330,000)
Fiscal Year 2023: ¥520,000 (Direct Cost: ¥400,000、Indirect Cost: ¥120,000)
KeywordsEarth composition / global seismology / core-mantle boundary / mineral physics / mantle dynamics
Outline of Research at the Start

Slow velocity regions at the core-mantle boundary are denser and inferred to be more iron rich than the surrounding mantle, making them more sensitive to iron electron state. Iron properties predicted by mineral physics will be tested against new seismology data for measuring lower mantle velocity.

Outline of Annual Research Achievements

I am advising two graduate student projects: 1) developing a machine learning algorithm to detect the onset of P- and S-wave arrivals in global seismograms and 2) examining details of seismic reflections in the region above the core-mantle boundary. For project (1), the student has adapted an attention-based machine learning algorithm for detecting local earthquakes to the global seismic network for measuring the travel times of P- and S-waves for large events. For project (2), I initiated a collaboration with seismologists at the University of Munster in Germany who are experts in detecting the reflections of seismic waves in the deep mantle. Our groups are collecting studies that record the height of the seismic reflectors above the core-mantle boundary. We are in a unique position to develop globally consistent maps of lower mantle seismic properties.

Current Status of Research Progress
Current Status of Research Progress

2: Research has progressed on the whole more than it was originally planned.

Reason

The research is progressing smoothly. Working with the graduate students, we are prepared to develop two novel seismic data catalogs which will reveal the material properties of lower mantle minerals. For the mineralogical work, I attended the Ehime University Geodynamics Research Center summer workshop where I discussed how iron can exist as a metal, or in its oxidized forms FeO or Fe2O3 in the lower mantle. I organize a discussion group to examine how Earth's initial mantle oxidation state effects the early atmosphere composition and the emergence of life. The discussions have revealed many inconsistencies in the research regarding the oxidation state of the mantle and early Earth. We are designing new methods for systematizing the evolution of Earth's oxidation state.

Strategy for Future Research Activity

The future plan is to use the new catalog of P- and S-wave arrivals to directly measure velocity variations in the lowermost mantle from the shape of the travel times as a function of distance, the travel-time curve, in different highly-sampled regions along the core-mantle boundary. Preliminary results will be presented at the Studies of the Earth's Deep Interior meeting in America in June. These velocities combined with the new catalog of seismic reflector heights provide the means to distinguish whether iron in lower mantle bridgmanite exists dominantly in Fe2+ or its more oxidized Fe3+ state. I will then use the results from the seismology study to model how the Earth evolved into its present state and examine the implications for the early Earth surface environment.

Report

(1 results)
  • 2023 Research-status Report
  • Research Products

    (1 results)

All 2023

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

  • [Journal Article] Tomographic filtering of shear and compressional wave models reveals uncorrelated variations in the lowermost mantle2023

    • Author(s)
      J. Su, C. Houser, J.W. Hernlund, F. Deschamps
    • Journal Title

      Geophysical Journal International

      Volume: 234 Issue: 3 Pages: 2114-2127

    • DOI

      10.1093/gji/ggad190

    • Related Report
      2023 Research-status Report
    • Peer Reviewed / Open Access / Int'l Joint Research

URL: 

Published: 2023-04-13   Modified: 2024-12-25  

Information User Guide FAQ News Terms of Use Attribution of KAKENHI

Powered by NII kakenhi