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The Earth's Lower Mantle and Core

Équipe de Minéralogie, Institut de Minéralogie et de Physique
des Milieux Condensés, Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris
UMR CNRS 7590, Université Pierre et Marie Curie
Université Denis Diderot, 4 Place Jussieu, 75252 Paris, France
E-mail: guillaume.fiquet{at}impmc.jussieu.fr

François Guyot and James Badro

Équipe de Minéralogie, Institut de Minéralogie et de Physique
des Milieux Condensés, Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris
UMR CNRS 7590, Université Pierre et Marie Curie
Université Denis Diderot, 4 Place Jussieu, 75252 Paris, France

More than 90 percent of the Earth's mass is composed of iron, oxygen, silicon and magnesium, distributed among a metal-rich core, a silicate-rich mantle and more highly fractionated crustal rocks (less than 1% of the total). Mantle and core compositions can be approximated quite easily provided the bulk-Earth composition is assumed to be the same as that of appropriate meteorites. Critical mineral-physics data, some of which are reviewed in this article, are then needed to develop viable compositional and thermal Earth models, thus leading to a better knowledge of the deepest rocks in the Earth.

KEYWORDS: mantle, core, differentiation, chondrites

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