Effects of the post-perovskite phase transition properties on the stability and structure of primordial reservoirs in the lower mantle of the Earth

Abstract

Two key features of the lowermost Earth's mantle are the presence of Large Low Shear Velocity Provinces (LLSVPs), which may be reservoirs of primordial, chemically distinct material, and the phase change from perovskite (pv) to post-perovskite (pPv), which may occur at lowermost mantle conditions. However, the influence of this phase change on the shape, dynamics, and stability of chemically distinct reservoirs is not well constrained. Here, we performed numerical experiments of thermo-chemical convection in 2-D spherical annulus geometry to investigate the effects on thermo-chemical structure in the lower mantle of three parameters affecting the pPv phase change: the core–mantle boundary (CMB) temperature (TCMB), the viscosity ratio between pv and pPv (ΔηpPv), and the Clapeyron slope of the pPv phase transition (ΓpPv). Our results indicate that increasing CMB temperature increases the wavelength of the primordial reservoirs. Furthermore, a high CMB temperature promotes the development of plumes outside the reservoir of primordial material. High CMB temperature and large Clapeyron slope both favour the formation of pPv patches and of a double-crossing of the phase boundary, thus preventing the formation of continuous layer of pPv above the CMB. Combined with a low CMB temperature and/or a low Clapeyron slope of the pPv phase transition, a full layer of weak pPv above the CMB strongly enhances the mixing efficiency of primordial material with ambient regular mantle material, which may not allow the generation of large reservoirs. Based on our experiments, we conclude that the models of convection best describing the Earth's mantle dynamics include a large pPv Clapeyron slope (typically in the range of 13–16 MPa/K), and a moderate CMB temperature (around 3750 K). Our models do not provide further constraints on the value of the pPv viscosity, both regular and low values giving similar results on stability and structure of large primordial reservoirs for models with a moderate CMB temperature and large Clapeyron slope, but more plumes can be observed outside these large reservoirs in the cases with regular pPv than those in the cases with weak pPv.