Effects Of Anelasticity Research Articles

REVEAL: A Global Full-Waveform Inversion Model

ABSTRACT We present REVEAL, a global-scale, transversely isotropic full-waveform inversion model. REVEAL builds upon the earlier construction of the long-wavelength Earth (LOWE) model by lowering the minimum period from 100 to 33 s and by more than doubling the number of included earthquakes to 2366. In the course of 305 quasi-Newton iterations, REVEAL assimilated a total of 6,005,727 unique three-component waveforms. The inversion method rests on the combination of a stochastic mini-batch optimization and wavefield-adapted spectral-element meshes. Although the former naturally exploits redundancies in the data set, the latter reduces the cost of wavefield simulations by reducing the effective dimension of the numerical mesh. As a consequence, the average cost of an iteration in this inversion is only around 0.62% of an iteration that uses the complete data set with a standard cubed-sphere-type mesh. We calculated 3D synthetic seismograms using a graphics processing unit-accelerated spectral-element wave propagation solver, accommodating the effects of anelasticity, topography, bathymetry, ocean loading, and ellipticity. For a diverse range of global wavepaths, REVEAL predicts complete three-component seismograms at 33 s period that have not been included in the inversion. This generalization to unseen data suggests applications of REVEAL in event location and characterization, as well as in ground-motion modeling.

A Microphysical Model of Rock Friction and the Brittle‐Ductile Transition Controlled by Dislocation Glide and Backstress Evolution

AbstractRate‐ and state‐friction (RSF) is an empirical framework that describes the complex velocity‐, time‐, and slip‐dependent phenomena observed during frictional sliding of rocks and gouge in the laboratory. Despite its widespread use in earthquake nucleation and recurrence models, our understanding of RSF, particularly its time‐ and/or slip‐dependence, is still largely empirical, limiting our confidence in extrapolating laboratory behavior to the seismogenic zone. While many microphysical models have been proposed over the past few decades, none have explicitly incorporated the effects of strain hardening, anelasticity, or transient elastoplastic rheology. Here we present a new model of rock friction that incorporates these phenomena directly from the microphysical behavior of lattice dislocations. This model of rock friction exhibits the same logarithmic dependence on sliding velocity (strain rate) as RSF and displays a dependence on the internal backstress caused by long‐range interactions among geometrically necessary dislocations (GNDs). Changes in the backstress (internal stress) evolve exponentially with plastic strain of asperities and are dependent on both the current backstress and previous deformation, which give rise to phenomena consistent with interpretations of the “critical slip distance,” “memory effect,” and “evolution effect” of RSF. The rate dependence of friction in this model is primarily controlled by the evolution of backstress and temperature. We provide several analytical predictions for RSF‐like behavior and the “brittle‐ductile” transition based on microphysical mechanisms and measurable parameters such as the GND density and strain‐dependent hardening modulus.

High-rate strength response of tantalum from dynamic hole closure experiments

The science and engineering communities have significant interest in experimental platforms to evaluate and improve models for dynamic material deformation. While well-developed platforms exist, there are still gaps to fill for strain and strain rate conditions accessed during impact and other high-rate loading scenarios. To fill one such gap for strength measurements, a platform was recently developed that accesses high strain rate (≥105/s) and large strain (≥50%) conditions by measuring the transient closure of a cylindrical hole using in situ x-ray imaging. In the work reported here, further refinement of the platform is performed to reduce the potential effects of porosity and anelasticity on the measurement. This helps us to isolate the strength effects that are the focus of the experiment. The updated experimental configuration employs a two-layer flyer design and elongated target to reduce the magnitude of the tensile excursions associated with rarefaction wave interactions. This allows for a more direct assessment of strength models commonly used for dynamic simulations of metals. We apply the new technique to well-characterized tantalum material, allowing for a robust connection to other experimental techniques. Deformation localization can be a concern in large strain experiments, and to help inform future use of the experimental platform, we use simulations with a sub-zone treatment of shear banding to explore potential localization behavior. Overall, we develop and utilize an experimental configuration with improved isolation of strength effects that can be applied to an expanded range of materials.

Viscoelastic Love numbers and long-period geophysical effects

SUMMARY Long term deformations strongly depend on the earth model and its rheological parameters, and in particular its viscosity. We give the general theory and the numerical scheme to compute them for any spherically non-rotating isotropic earth model with linear rheology, either elastic or viscoelastic. Although the Laplace transform (LT) is classically used to compute viscoelastic deformation, we choose here instead, to implement the integration with the Fourier transform (FT) in order to take advantage of the fast FT algorithm and avoid some of the LT mathematical difficulties. We describe the methodology to calculate deformations induced by several geophysical signals regardless of whether they are periodic or not, especially by choosing an adapted time sampling for the FT. As examples, we investigate the sensitivity of the displacements due to long period solid Earth tides, glacial isostatic adjustment and present-day ice melting, to anelastic parameters of the mantle. We find that the effects of anelasticity are important for long period deformation and relatively low values of viscosities for both Maxwell and Burgers models. We show that slight modifications in the rheological models could significantly change the amplitude of deformation but also affect the spatial and temporal pattern of the signal to a lesser extent. Especially, we highlight the importance of the mantle anelasticity in the low degrees deformation due to present-day ice melting and encourage its inclusion in future models.

Inversion of Longer‐Period OBS Waveforms for P Structures in the Oceanic Lithosphere and Asthenosphere

AbstractWe performed waveform inversion of the P waveforms recorded by our BroadBand Ocean Bottom Seismometers (BBOBSs) deployed in the Northwestern Pacific. Consequently, the depth profile of the P velocity of the oceanic upper mantle, which has not been well resolved by previous surface wave or receiver function analyses, was revealed. We considered the azimuthal anisotropy in the lithosphere, which significantly improved the variance reduction from 34% to 44%. The resulting P model exhibited higher and lower velocities in the lithosphere and asthenosphere, respectively. The velocity contrast was found to be second/third of that observed in the previous S models; however the obtained model appeared to have some trade‐off with the VS structures in the vicinity of the source. We compared our P model with the previous S model obtained using our BBOBSs and obtained the VP/VS model. The resulting VP/VS model has two notable features. First, the lithosphere is characterized by a rapid increase in the VP/VS values with depth, which implies chemical stratification. Second, the VP/VS values in the vicinity of the lithosphere‐asthenosphere boundary (LAB) are larger than the synthetic values of any major upper mantle mineral predicted by considering the anharmonic effects, which suggests the effects of anelasticity or melt.

Multidisciplinary Constraints on the Abundance of Diamond and Eclogite in the Cratonic Lithosphere

AbstractSome seismic models derived from tomographic studies indicate elevated shear‐wave velocities (≥4.7 km/s) around 120–150 km depth in cratonic lithospheric mantle. These velocities are higher than those of cratonic peridotites, even assuming a cold cratonic geotherm (i.e., 35 mW/m2 surface heat flux) and accounting for compositional heterogeneity in cratonic peridotite xenoliths and the effects of anelasticity. We reviewed various geophysical and petrologic constraints on the nature of cratonic roots (seismic velocities, lithology/mineralogy, electrical conductivity, and gravity) and explored a range of permissible rock and mineral assemblages that can explain the high seismic velocities. These constraints suggest that diamond and eclogite are the most likely high‐Vs candidates to explain the observed velocities, but matching the high shear‐wave velocities requires either a large proportion of eclogite (>50 vol.%) or the presence of up to 3 vol.% diamond, with the exact values depending on peridotite and eclogite compositions and the geotherm. Both of these estimates are higher than predicted by observations made on natural samples from kimberlites. However, a combination of ≤20 vol.% eclogite and ~2 vol.% diamond may account for high shear‐wave velocities, in proportions consistent with multiple geophysical observables, data from natural samples, and within mass balance constraints for global carbon. Our results further show that cratonic thermal structure need not be significantly cooler than determined from xenolith thermobarometry.

Testing the reference Moon model in respect of the thermal regime and chemical composition of the mantle: Thermodynamics versus seismology

The VPREMOON seismic reference Moon model (Garcia et al., 2011) has been tested with respect to the thermal regime and chemical composition of the mantle. Based on a self-consistent thermodynamic approach and petrological models of the lunar mantle covering a wide range of concentrations of CaO, Al2O3, and FeO, we convert the P- and S-wave velocity profiles to the temperature–depth profiles. The solution procedure relies on the method of the Gibbs free energy minimization and the equations of state for the mantle material which take into account the effects of phase transformations, anharmonicity, and anelasticity. We find that regardless of the chemical composition, the positive P- and S-wave velocity gradient in the lunar mantle leads to a negative temperature gradient, which has no physical basis. For adequate mantle temperatures, the P- and S-wave velocities should remain almost constant or slightly decrease with depth (especially V S ) as a result of the effects of the temperature, which grows faster than pressure. These findings underscore the importance of the relationship of the thermodynamics and physics of minerals with seismology.

Anelasticity of Fe–Ga based alloys

Frequency, amplitude, and temperature dependent effects of anelasticity in Fe–Ga and Fe–Ga–Al alloys are studied by mechanical spectroscopy techniques using forced bending and torsion subresonance vibrations (f from 0.001 to 200Hz, ε from 10−6 to 10−2, T from 0 to 600°C). The structure and the properties of the studied alloys are characterized by scanning electron microscopy and magnetic force microscopy. Main regularities of amplitude dependent damping are attributed to magnetomechanical damping, which is very sensitive to the structural state of alloys, their composition, magnetostriction, and testing method. Two maximal damping peaks at about 18% and 27%Ga correspond to similar maxima of magnetostriction against %Ga. Both temperature dependent thermally activated relaxation effects and anelastic effects due to phase transitions are discussed in terms of alloys structures. Thermally activated internal friction peaks are ascribed to different atomic mechanisms. A phase transition from bcc originated structures (A2 and D03) to an fcc ordered structure (L12) is accompanied by a transient anelastic effect typical for a shear diffusionless transition.

A normal mode treatment of semi-diurnal body tides on an aspherical, rotating and anelastic Earth

Normal mode treatments of the Earth's body tide response were developed in the 1980s to account for the effects of Earth rotation, ellipticity, anelasticity and resonant excitation within the diurnal band. Recent space-geodetic measurements of the Earth's crustal displacement in response to luni-solar tidal forcings have revealed geographical variations that are indicative of aspherical deep mantle structure, thus providing a novel data set for constraining deep mantle elastic and density structure. In light of this, we make use of advances in seismic free oscillation literature to develop a new, generalized normal mode theory for the tidal response within the semi-diurnal and long-period tidal band. Our theory involves a perturbation method that permits an efficient calculation of the impact of aspherical structure on the tidal response. In addition, we introduce a normal mode treatment of anelasticity that is distinct from both earlier work in body tides and the approach adopted in free oscillation seismology. We present several simple numerical applications of the new theory. First, we compute the tidal response of a spherically symmetric, non-rotating, elastic and isotropic Earth model and demonstrate that our predictions match those based on standard Love number theory. Second, we compute perturbations to this response associated with mantle anelasticity and demonstrate that the usual set of seismic modes adopted for this purpose must be augmented by a family of relaxation modes to accurately capture the full effect of anelasticity on the body tide response. Finally, we explore aspherical effects including rotation and we benchmark results from several illustrative case studies of aspherical Earth structure against independent finite-volume numerical calculations of the semi-diurnal body tide response. These tests confirm the accuracy of the normal mode methodology to at least the level of numerical error in the finite-volume predictions. They also demonstrate that full coupling of normal modes, rather than group coupling, is necessary for accurate predictions of the body tide response.

Propagation and attenuation of Rayleigh waves in a partially-saturated porous solid with impervious boundary

Abstract Propagation of Rayleigh waves is studied in a three-phase porous solid half-space, which is bounded above by an impervious plane surface. In this dissipative medium, Rayleigh wave propagates as an inhomogeneous wave, which decays with distance from the stress-free plane boundary. The impervious boundary restricts the flow of pore-fluids to the interior of porous solid only. This is ensured by fixing the fluid-pressure gradient in pores at boundary or with the sealing of surface pores. In either case, the existence and propagation of inhomogeneous wave are represented by a dispersion equation, which happens to be complex and irrational. This equation is rationalized into an algebraic equation of degree 24, which is solved for a numerical example. Solutions of the dispersion equation are checked to represent an inhomogeneous wave decaying with depth. Each qualified solution is resolved to define the phase velocity and attenuation coefficient of a Rayleigh wave in the medium. Numerical example compares the velocity and attenuation of Rayleigh wave in porous sandy loam for the two representations of the impervious boundary, one with sealed pores and other with no fluid-pressure gradient. Effects of saturation degree, porosity, capillary pressure, pore-fluids viscosity and frame anelasticity are observed on the propagation characteristics of Rayleigh waves. Existence of second Rayleigh wave is checked numerically. Such a wave is possible only when the porous frame is highly anelastic and saturated enough.

Long-period tidal variations in the length of day

A new model of long-period tidal variations in length of day is developed. The model comprises 80 spectral lines with periods between 18.6 years and 4.7 days, and it consistently includes effects of mantle anelasticity and dynamic ocean tides for all lines. The anelastic properties follow Wahr and Bergen; experimental confirmation for their results now exists at the fortnightly period, but there remains uncertainty when extrapolating to the longest periods. The ocean modeling builds on recent work with the fortnightly constituent, which suggests that oceanic tidal angular momentum can be reliably predicted at these periods without data assimilation. This is a critical property when modeling most long-period tides, for which little observational data exist. Dynamic ocean effects are quite pronounced at shortest periods as out-of-phase rotation components become nearly as large as in-phase components. The model is tested against a 20 year time series of space geodetic measurements of length of day. The current international standard model is shown to leave significant residual tidal energy, and the new model is found to mostly eliminate that energy, with especially large variance reduction for constituents Sa, Ssa, Mf, and Mt.

Petrological-geophysical models of the internal structure of the lithospheric mantle of the Siberian Craton

Based on the simultaneous inversion of unique ultralong-range seismic profiles Craton, Kimberlite, Meteorite, and Rift, sourced by peaceful nuclear and chemical explosions, and petrological and geochemical data on the composition of xenoliths of garnet peridotite and fertile primitive mantle material, the first reconstruction was obtained for the thermal state and density of the lithospheric mantle of the Siberian craton at depths of 100–300 km accounting for the effects of phase transformation, anharmonicity, and anelasticity. The upper mantle beneath Siberia is characterized by significant variations in seismic velocities, relief of seismic boundaries, degree of layering, and distribution of temperature and density. The mapping of the present-day lateral and vertical variations in the thermal state of the mantle showed that temperatures in the central part of the craton at depths of 100–200 km are somewhat lower than those at the periphery and 300–400°C lower than the mean temperature of tectonically younger mantle surrounding the craton. The temperature profiles derived from the seismic models lie between the 32.5 and 35 mW/m2 conductive geotherms, and the mantle heat flow was estimated as 11–17 mW/m2. The depth of the base of the cratonic thermal lithosphere (thermal boundary layer) is close to the 1450 ± 100°C isotherm at 300 ± 30 km, which is consistent with published heat flow, thermobarometry, and seismic tomography data. It was shown that the density distribution in the Siberian cratonic mantle cannot be described by a single homogeneous composition, either depleted or enriched. In addition to thermal anomalies, the mantle density heterogeneities must be related to variations in chemical composition with depth. This implies significant fertilization at depths greater than 180–200 km and is compatible with the existence of chemical stratification in the lithospheric mantle of the craton. In the asthenosphere-lithosphere transition zone, the craton root material is not very different in chemical composition, thermal regime, and density from the underlying asthenosphere. It was shown that minor variations in the chemical composition of the cratonic mantle and position of chemical (petrological) boundaries and the lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary cannot be reliably determined from the interpretation of seismic velocity models only.

Mechanisms of linear anelasticity in Fe-M and Fe-Al-M (M = Ga, Ge) alloys

Linear anelastic effects in binary and ternary alloys of iron with 13 and 17 at % Ga, 12 at % Ge, and 4–8 at % Al (Fe-13Ga, Fe-17Ga, Fe-12Ge, Fe-8Al-3Ga, Fe-8Al-4Ge, and Fe-4Al-8Ge) have been investigated. In all of these alloys, thermally activated effects of linear anelasticity have been found and identified that are caused by point defects in interstitial (Snoek-type relaxation) and substitutional (Zener relaxation) solid solutions, as well as by dislocations (Hasiguti effect), and by grain boundaries. The effects of the alloy composition on the activation parameters of the above-mentioned relaxation mechanisms have been determined. In addition, frequency-independent effects related to processes of structural rearrangement, such as ordering and disordering of the alloys have been revealed due to the specific features in the curves of the temperature dependences of internal friction for almost all compositions.

Rayleigh Waves in Dissipative Poro-Viscoelastic Media

This study considers the propagation of Rayleigh waves on the stress‐free surface of a viscoelastic, porous solid saturated with viscous fluid. The surface pores have the option of being either sealed or fully opened. The dispersion equation is obtained in the form of a complex irrational expression due to the presence of radicals. After rationalizing to an algebraic form, the dispersion equation is solved numerically, for exact complex roots. These roots are resolved for velocity and attenuation of the inhomogeneous propagation of Rayleigh waves in the poro‐viscoelastic solid half‐space. Effects of frame anelasticity, pore‐fluid viscosity, frequency, and pore characteristics are observed numerically on the velocities of existing Rayleigh waves. Behavior of the elliptical particle motion for these waves is studied inside and at the surface of the porous solid. With the sealing of surface pores, these waves should be more sensitive to the changes in porosity and tortuosity. An exclusive contribution of dissipation due to the anelastic frame and/or the viscous pore‐fluid is the existence of an additional inhomogeneous wave that satisfies the radiation condition for surface waves. This additional surface wave is more likely when surface pores of the dissipative porous medium are sealed.

Investigation of recrystallization in an Al-0.3 Mg alloy by the method of internal friction

The Al-0.3 at % Mg alloy subjected to deformation by rolling (ɛ = 90%) at room temperature has been investigated by the method of internal friction. The influence of deformation and subsequent recrystallization on the temperature dependence of the amplitude-dependent and amplitude-independent internal friction has been determined. Effects of anelasticity due to recrystallization and grain-boundary relaxation have been revealed and investigated; parameters of corresponding peaks of internal friction have been determined and discussed. When studying the kinetics of recrystallization, the high sensitivity and selectivity of the procedure used have been shown.

Thermal structure and thickness of the lithospheric mantle underlying the Siberian Craton from the kraton and kimberlit superlong seismic profiles

A self-consistent approach is proposed for the investigation of the thermal conditions, chemical composition, and internal structure of the upper mantle of the Earth. Using this approach, the thermal state of the lithospheric mantle beneath the Siberian Craton (SC) is reconstructed from P velocities, taking into account the phase transitions, anharmonicity, and the effects of anelasticity. The velocities of seismic waves are more sensitive to temperature than to the composition of the mantle rocks, which allows the velocity models to be effectively used for reconstruction of the thermal regime of the mantle. The temperature at depths 100–300 km is reconstructed by inversion of the Kraton and Kimberlit superlong seismic profiles for compositions of the garnet harzburgite, lherzolite, and intermediate composition of garnet peridotite. The averaged temperature in the normal continental mantle is reconstructed by inversion of the IASP91 reference model for depleted and fertile substance. One-dimensional models and two-dimensional thermal fields undergo a substantial fall in temperature (∼300–600°C) beneath the Siberian Craton as compared to the temperatures of the continental mantle and paleotemperatures inferred from the thermobarometry of xenoliths. Temperature profiles of the Siberian Craton deduced from seismic data lie between the conductive geotherms of 32.5–40.0 mW/m2 and below the P(H)-T values obtained for low- and high-temperature xenoliths from the Mir, Udachnaya, and Obnazhennaya kimberlite pipes. The thickness of the thermal lithosphere estimated from the intersection with the potential adiabat is 300–320 km, which is consistent with the data on heat flows and seismotomographic observations. This provides grounds for the assumption that the low-temperature anomalies (thermal roots of continents) penetrate down to a depth of 300 km. The analysis of the sensitivity of seismic velocity and density to the variations in temperature, pressure, and chemical and phase composition of petrological models shows that recognition of fine differences in chemical composition of the lithospheric rocks by seismic methods is impossible.

New estimates of the inertia tensor and rotation of the triaxial nonrigid Earth

The Earth's rotation is perturbed by mass redistributions and relative motions within the Earth system, as well as by the torques from both the internal Earth and celestial bodies. The present study aims to establish a theory to incorporate all these factors perturbing the rotation state of the triaxial Earth, just like the traditional rotation theory of the axial‐symmetric Earth. First of all, we reestimate the Earth's inertia tensor on the basis of two new gravity models, EIGEN‐GL05C and EGM2008. Then we formulate the dynamic equations and obtain their normal modes for an Earth model with a triaxial anelastic mantle, a triaxial fluid core, and dissipative oceans. The periods of the Chandler wobble and the free core nutation are successfully recovered, being ∼433 and ∼430 mean solar days, respectively. Further, the Liouville equations and their general solutions for that triaxial nonrigid Earth are deduced. The Liouville equations are characterized by the complex frequency‐dependent transfer functions, which incorporate the effects of triaxialities and deformations of both the mantle and the core, as well as the effects of the mantle anelasticity, the equilibrium, and dissipative ocean tides. Complex transfer functions just reflect the fact that decays and phase lags exist in the Earth's response to the periodic forcing. Our theory reduces to the traditional rotation theory of the axial‐symmetric Earth when assuming rotational symmetry of the inertia tensor. Finally, the present theory is applied to the case of atmospheric‐oceanic excitation. The effective atmospheric‐oceanic angular momentum function (AMF)χeff=χeff1+iχeff2for the present theory is compared with the AMFχeffsym=χeff1sym+iχeff2symfor the traditional theory and the observed AMFχobs=χ1obs+iχ2obs; we find that the difference betweenχeffandχeffsymis of a few milliseconds of arc (mas) and can sometimes exceed 10 mas. In addition, spectrum analyses indicate thatχeffis in good agreement withχeffsymand, further, show an increase of coherency withχobsespecially in the low‐frequency band. The obvious advantage ofχeffin the low‐frequency band with respect toχeffsymis the critical support of the present theory. However, still better performance of our theory can be expected if the models of the mantle anelasticity and oceanic dynamics were improved. Thus we conclude that the traditional Earth rotation theory should be revised and upgraded to include the effects of the Earth's triaxiality, the mantle anelasticity, and oceanic dynamics. The theory presented in this study might be more appropriate to describe the rotation of the triaxial Earth (or other triaxial celestial bodies such as Mars), though further studies are needed to incorporate the effects of the solid inner core and other possible influences.

Effects of 3D Attenuation on Seismic Wave Amplitude and Phase Measurements

Abstract We incorporate 3D anelastic attenuation into the spectral-element method for seismic wave propagation. This advancement accommodates lateral variations in anelasticity on global, regional, or local scales. We use the method to investigate the effects of anelasticity in an upper mantle attenuation model in conjunction with a global wave-speed model and in a regional subduction zone model. These investigations reveal substantial and competing amplitude anomalies due to elastic and anelastic variations, but rather minor anelastic effects on the travel times of seismic waves. Seismic studies utilizing amplitude data must therefore consider elastic and anelastic heterogeneity in tandem to avoid mapping one type of heterogeneity into the other.

Adaptation of Pressure Based CFD Solvers for Mesoscale Atmospheric Problems

General purpose Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) solvers are frequently used in small-scale urban pollution dispersion simulations without a large extent of ver- tical flow. Vertical flow, however, plays an important role in the formation of local breezes, such as urban heat island induced breezes that have great significance in the ventilation of large cities. The effects of atmospheric stratification, anelasticity and Coriolis force must be taken into account in such simulations. We introduce a general method for adapting pressure based CFD solvers to atmospheric flow simulations in order to take advantage of their high flexibility in geometrical modelling and meshing. Compressibility and thermal stratification effects are taken into account by utilizing a novel system of transformations of the field variables and by adding consequential source terms to the model equations of incompressible flow. Phenomena involving mesoscale to microscale coupled effects can be analyzed without model nesting, applying only local grid refinement of an arbitrary level. Elements of the method are validated against an analytical solution, results of a reference calculation, and a laboratory scale urban heat island circulation experiment. The new approach can be applied with benefits to several areas of application. Inclusion of the moisture transport phenomena and the surface energy balance are important further steps towards the practical application of the method.

On the anelastic contribution to the temperature dependence of lower mantle seismic velocities

There is little agreement regarding the importance of anelastic contributions to the temperature dependence of seismic wave velocities. Some studies consider the anelastic contribution to be negligible, whereas others argue that it may be as important as the purely elastic contribution. In order to evaluate these claims, we review physically plausible models for mantle relaxation processes and construct a model of activation enthalpy based on solid state physics as well as on recent experimental results. We then deduce self-consistent 1-D Q profiles and evaluate the anelastic contribution to the temperature dependence of V s and V p . Physically plausible values of activation enthalpies yield anelastic contributions that increase with depth and account for at least 20% of the velocity temperature derivatives at 2600 km. We show that anelasticity may significantly moderate temperature variations in hot (slow velocity) zones. This suggests that inferred lateral changes in temperature, as well as arguments regarding the presence of chemical heterogeneity, and/or temperature induced phase transformations, are likely to be significantly affected by anelastic effects in the mantle. We also compute values of the dimensionless parameters R s/ p , R ϕ/ s , and R ρ/ s . We find that anelasticity can either increase or decrease R s/ p , but the magnitude of the correction, of the order of 15%, is smaller than the uncertainty in the elastic value. Anelasticity cannot change the sign of R ϕ/ s and R ρ/ s , but it can decrease their values by as much as 50%. However, given current uncertainties in seismic and mineral data, the effects of anelasticity on the dimensionless parameters do not bring any quantitative constraints on lateral variations of temperature, chemical composition and/or mineral phase.