A Laboratory Model for Convection in Earth's Core Driven by a Thermally Heterogeneous Mantle
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- Ikuro Sumita
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA.
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- Peter Olson
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA.
書誌事項
- 公開日
- 1999-11-19
- DOI
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- 10.1126/science.286.5444.1547
- 公開者
- American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
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説明
<jats:p>Thermal convection experiments in a rapidly rotating hemispherical shell suggest a model in which the convection in Earth's liquid outer core is controlled by a thermally heterogeneous mantle. Experiments show that heterogeneous boundary heating induces an eastward flow in the core, which, at a sufficiently large magnitude, develops into a large-scale spiral with a sharp front. The front separates the warm and cold regions in the core and includes a narrow jet flowing from the core-mantle boundary to the inner-core boundary. The existence of this front in the core may explain the Pacific quiet zone in the secular variation of the geomagnetic field and the longitudinally heterogeneous structure of the solid inner core.</jats:p>
収録刊行物
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- Science
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Science 286 (5444), 1547-1549, 1999-11-19
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)