We compute the elastic constants tensor and the seismic properties of KAlSi3O8 and K0.8Na0.2AlSi3O8 up to the ferroelastic transition using density-functional theory and density-functional perturbation theory in the ABINIT implementation. We observe a softening of the tetragonal shear with pressure that precedes the ferroelastic transition. The Reuss shear moduli become negative at respectively...

The Mantle Electromagnetic and Tomography (MELT ) Experiment was designed to distinguish between competing models of magma generation beneath mid-ocean ridges. Seismological observations demonstrate that basaltic melt is present beneath the East Pacific Rise spreading center in a broad region several hundred kilometers across and extending to depths greater than 100 kilometers, not just in a na...

The Mantle Electromagnetic and Tomography (MELT) Experiment was designed to distinguish between competing models of magma generation beneath mid-ocean ridges. Seismological observations demonstrate that basaltic melt is present beneath the East Pacific Rise spreading center in a broad region several hundred kilometers across and extending to depths greater than 100 kilometers, not just in a nar...

Seismic anisotropy in the oceanic lithosphere results from flow-induced crystallographic preferred orientation of dry olivine during lithosphere creation. Recent experiments, however, showed that high water activity changes the flow mechanisms of olivine and hence the crystallographic preferred orientation, better explaining the seismic anisotropy in the mantle wedge above subduction zones. Whe...

The lower mantle is dominated by two large structures with anomalously low shear wave velocities, known as Large Low-Shear Velocity Provinces (LLSVPs). Several studies have documented evidence for strong seismic anisotropy at the base of the mantle near the edges of the African LLSVP. Recent work has identified a smaller structure with similar low-shear wave velocities beneath Eurasia, dubbed t...

We have conducted a series of experiments designed to investigate elastic and electromagnetic (EM) velocity anisotropy associated with a preferentially aligned fracture system on a temperate valley glacier in south-central Alaska, USA. Measurements include a three-dimensional compressional wave (P-wave) seismic reflection survey conducted over a 300m 300m survey patch, with uniform source grid ...

[1] We have determined by first principles the athermal elastic constant tensor, single crystal and aggregated acoustic velocities, and anisotropy of the recently discovered post-perovskite MgSiO3 polymorph. This phase may be the most abundant mineral in the D00 region. We find that the post-perovskite phase has similar bulk modulus and larger shear modulus than perovskite at relevant pressures...

We present a three-dimensional model of the seismic anisotropy and texturing of iron crystals in the inner core. The form of the anisotropy changes suddenly at slightly less than half of the inner core radius. The outer part is composed of iron crystals of a single phase with different degrees of preferred alignment along the spin axis of the Earth. The inner part may be composed of a different...