Earth's mantle: New numerical tool describes rock deformation
Tuesday, January 24, 2012 - 08:01
in Earth & Climate
Although solid, the rocks of the Earth's mantle deform very slowly. Professor Patrick Cordier's team at the Materials and Transformation Unit (Université Lille, France) has developed a model that makes it possible, over timescales of several million years, to link the deformation of these rocks with mantle convection, the fundamental driver of plate tectonics. Until now, no experimental method in the laboratory had achieved the real conditions of deformation of mantle rocks. By applying this model to magnesium oxide, a solid present in the Earth's mantle, the scientists were able to show how atomic-scale defects in this mineral could be transmitted on a larger scale and over long periods of time.