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KEY T0PICS 0N PHYSICS AND EVOLUTION OF THE EARTH’S INTERIOR: 1.EARTH STRUCTURE AND PHYSICAL PROPERTIES

Cheng Sheng-zao   

  1. Ottawa-Carleton Geosciences Center and Department of Earth Sciences, Carleton University, Ottawa, ONKIS 5B6, CANADA
  • Received:1997-09-20 Revised:1997-09-20 Online:1997-09-20 Published:1997-09-20

Abstract: Some important methods and main results from studies of physics and evolution of the Earth’s interior were reviewed in this paper, with an emphasis on the areas such as geophysical equations of state, seismic tomography, integrated inversions, high-temperature an d high-pressure experiments, and their comparative studies. The most updated findings have demonstrated that the Earth’s interior is heterogeneous and anisotropic, even though the homogeneous, isotropic, and symmetric spherical model nowadays can be still taken as a reference mode1. The lateral heterogeneity is mainly found in the upper mantle, while the lower mantle and the outer core of liquid state seem to be relatively homogeneous. The core-mantle boundary(CMB)transition zone (D″). however, is most likely a heterogeneous chemical boundary layer embedded in a thermal boundary layer, with a temperature drop of several hundred degrees, where its topographic undulation and lateral heterogeneity will affect the spherical symmetry of the Earth mode1. Results from 3-D seismic tomography reflect, in practice, the relationship between velocity and temperature anomalies, whereas the temperature variations further lea to on anomalous change in density, and hence, the parameter density is one of essential cont factors in mantle convection modeling.