Effects of compressibility on the temperature jump at the interface of layered, spherical‐shell convection

David A. Yuen, Shuxia Zhang, Sherri E. Langenberger

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Abstract

Large temperature jumps at the interface of layered convection are important to the argument used against the likelihood of separate circulations in the upper and lower mantles. We study this problem within the framework of a compressible, constant viscosity spherical‐shell model. Both mechanical and thermal coupling configurations are considered. Although the temperature jumps are reduced by compressibility, their magnitudes remain quite large, 0(10³°C), in the case of mechanical coupling. For thermal coupling the temperature jumps become smaller but still are substantial, between 500 to 1000 °C. In layered spherical‐shell convection, flows in the lower mantle are several times greater than the surface velocities.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)447-450
Number of pages4
JournalGeophysical Research Letters
Volume15
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - May 1988

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