Small-scale layered structures at the inner core boundary

Baolong Zhang, Sidao Ni (), Wenbo Wu, Zhichao Shen, Wenzhong Wang, Daoyuan Sun and Zhongqing Wu
Additional contact information
Baolong Zhang: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Sidao Ni: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Wenbo Wu: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Zhichao Shen: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Wenzhong Wang: University of Science and Technology of China
Daoyuan Sun: University of Science and Technology of China
Zhongqing Wu: University of Science and Technology of China

Nature Communications, 2023, vol. 14, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract The fine-scale seismic features near the inner core boundary (ICB) provide critical insights into the thermal, chemical, and geodynamical interactions between liquid and solid cores, and may shed light on the evolution mechanism of the Earth’s core. Here, we utilize a dataset of pre-critical PKiKP waveforms to constrain the fine structure at the ICB, considering the influence of various factors such as source complexity, structural anomalies in the mantle, and properties at the ICB. Our modeling suggests a sharp ICB beneath Mongolia and most of Northeast Asia, but a locally laminated ICB structure beneath Central Asia, Siberia, and part of Northeast Asia. The complex ICB structure might be explained by either the existence of a kilometer-scale thickness of mushy zone, or the localized coexistence of bcc and hcp iron phase at the ICB. We infer that there may be considerable lateral variations in the dendrites growing process at ICB, probably due to the complicated thermochemical and geodynamical interaction between the outer and inner core.

Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-42177-7 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:14:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-023-42177-7

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-42177-7

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().