Despite recent insight regarding the history and current state of the Moon from satellite sensing and analyses of limited Apollo-era seismic data, deficiencies remain in our understanding of the deep lunar interior. We reanalyzed Apollo lunar seismograms using array-processing methods to search for the presence of reflected and converted seismic energy from the core. Our results suggest the presence of a solid inner and fluid outer core, overlain by a partially molten boundary layer. The relative sizes of the inner and outer core suggest that the core is ~60% liquid by volume. Based on phase diagrams of iron alloys and the presence of partial melt, the core probably contains less than 6 weight % of lighter alloying components, which is consistent with a volatile-depleted interior.

Abstract:The content of hydrogen in the outer core of the Earth is roughly quantified from the dependence of the density of iron (viewed as the main component of the core) on the amount of hydrogen dissolved in the core, with account of the most likely presence of iron hydrogen in the outer core, and the matter's density jumps at the boundaries between the outer liquid core and the internal solid core (that is devoid of hydrogen) and the mantle. Estimations for the outer liquid core show that the hydrogen content varies from 0.67 wt. % at the boundary with the solid inner core to 3.04 wt. % at the boundary with the mantle.Iron occlusion is viewed as the most likely mechanism for the iron-nickel core to capture such a significant amount of hydrogen. Iron occlusion took place at the stage of the young sun when the metallic core emerged in the cooling protoplanetary cloud containing hydrogen in high amounts, and non-volatile hydrogen was accumulated. Absorption (occlusion) of molecular hydrogen was preceded by dissociation of molecules into atoms and ionization of the atoms, as proved by results of studies focused on Fe-H2 system, and hydrogen dissipation was thus prevented. The core matter was subject to gravitational compression at high pressures that contributed to the forced rapprochement of protons and electrons which interaction resulted by the formation of hydrogen atoms. Highly active hydrogen atoms reacted with metals and produced hydrides of iron and nickel, FeH and NiH. While the metallic core and then the silicate mantle were growing and consolidating, the stability of FeH and NiH was maintained due to pressures that were steadily increasing. Later on, due to the impacts of external forces on the Earth, marginal layers at the mantle-core boundary were detached and displaced, pressures decreased in the system, and iron and nickel hydrides were decomposed to produce molecular hydrogen. Consequences of the hydrides transformation into molecular hydrogen are important in terms of petrology, mineralogy and geodynamics. At high temperatures, molecular hydrogen can be involved in redox reactions with iron silicates and carbonaceous gases (CO and CO2), and the synthesis of water becomes possible throughout the entire mantle. It is known that water can significantly reduce the temperature of rock melting, which leads to partial melting of the rocks and pluming in the asthenosphere (in the D" layer) at the bottom of the mantle, and causes the hydrolysis of magnesium silicates, which results in the chemically bound state (hydroxyl ions). Highly ductile hydroxyl-containing magnesium silicates can alter rheological properties of the rocks. A combination of rheologically weak areas in the mantle rocks and the external cosmic effects can cause significant impacts on the tectonic activity and facilitate its manifestation throughout the entire mantle. GEODYNAMICS & TECTONOPHYSICS P U B L I S H E D B Y T H E I N S T I T U T E O F T H E E A R T H ' S C R U S T S I B E R I A N B R A N C H O F R U S S I A N A C A D E M Y O...

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Processes within the lowest several hundred kilometers of Earth's rocky mantle play a critical role in the evolution of the planet. Understanding Earth's lower mantle requires putting recent seismic and mineral physics discoveries into a self-consistent, geodynamically feasible context. Two nearly antipodal large low-shear-velocity provinces in the deep mantle likely represent chemically distinct and denser material. High-resolution seismological studies have revealed laterally varying seismic velocity discontinuities in the deepest few hundred kilometers, consistent with a phase transition from perovskite to post-perovskite. In the deepest tens of kilometers of the mantle, isolated pockets of ultralow seismic velocities may denote Earth's deepest magma chamber.

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Recent seismological discoveries have indicated that the Earth's core-mantle boundary is far more complex than a simple boundary between the molten outer core and the silicate mantle. Instead, its structural complexities probably rival those of the Earth's crust. Some regions of the lowermost mantle have been observed to have seismic wave speed reductions of at least 10 per cent, which appear not to be global in extent. Here we present robust evidence for an 8.5-km-thick and approximately 50-km-wide pocket of dense, partially molten material at the core-mantle boundary east of Australia. Array analyses of an anomalous precursor to the reflected seismic wave ScP reveal compressional and shear-wave velocity reductions of 8 and 25 per cent, respectively, and a 10 per cent increase in density of the partially molten aggregate. Seismological data are incompatible with a basal layer composed of pure melt, and thus require a mechanism to prevent downward percolation of dense melt within the layer. This may be possible by trapping of melt by cumulus crystal growth following melt drainage from an anomalously hot overlying region of the lowermost mantle. This magmatic evolution and the resulting cumulate structure seem to be associated with overlying thermal instabilities, and thus may mark a root zone of an upwelling plume.

Temperature gradients in a low-shear-velocity province in the lowermost mantle (D'' region) beneath the central Pacific Ocean were inferred from the observation of a rapid S-wave velocity increase overlying a rapid decrease. These paired seismic discontinuities are attributed to a phase change from perovskite to post-perovskite and then back to perovskite as the temperature increases with depth. Iron enrichment could explain the occurrence of post-perovskite several hundred kilometers above the core-mantle boundary in this warm, chemically distinct province. The double phase-boundary crossing directly constrains the lowermost mantle temperature gradients. Assuming a standard but unconstrained choice of thermal conductivity, the regional core-mantle boundary heat flux (approximately 85 +/- 25 milliwatts per square meter), comparable to the average at Earth's surface, was estimated, along with a lower bound on global core-mantle boundary heat flow in the range of 13 +/- 4 terawatts. Mapped velocity-contrast variations indicate that the lens of post-perovskite minerals thins and vanishes over 1000 kilometers laterally toward the margin of the chemical distinct region as a result of a approximately 500-kelvin temperature increase.

Recent seismological work has revealed new structures in the boundary layer between the Earth's core and mantle that are altering and expanding perspectives of the role this region plays in both core and mantle dynamics. Clear challenges for future research in seismological, experimental, theoretical and computational geophysics have emerged, holding the key to understanding both this dynamic system and geological phenomena observed at the Earth's surface.The Earth acquired its primary layered structure-consisting of a molten metallic alloy core overlain by a thick shell of silicates and oxides-very early in its history, and the region near the coremantle boundary (CMB) surface has undoubtedly played a significant role in both the core and mantle dynamic systems throughout their subsequent 4.5-Gyr evolution. The CMB has a density contrast exceeding that found at the surface of the Earth, has contrasts in viscosity and physical state comparable to those at the ocean floor, and has much hotter ambient temperatures than found near the surface 1,2 . These factors, together with the requirement that significant heat be flowing from the core into the mantle in order to sustain the geodynamo (the core magnetohydrodynamic flow regime that produces the Earth's magnetic field), provide the basis for the conventional view that a significant thermal boundary layer exists at the base of the mantle, with a temperature contrast of 1;000 Ϯ 500 K (refs 2-4). With ambient temperatures averaging around 3,000 K, this hot thermal boundary layer is a likely source of boundary-layer instabilities, and it has been speculated that upwelling thermal plumes ascend from the CMB to produce surface hotspot volcanism such as at Hawaii and Iceland, transporting about 10-15% of the surface heat flux 5-7 . The large CMB density contrast favours a mantle-side accumulation of chemical heterogeneities derived from initial and continuing chemical differentiation of the mantle, possibly including downwelling subducted slabs of former oceanic lithosphere; distinctive chemical signatures of these heterogeneities may eventually be entrained into thermal plumes, resulting in unique hotspot chemistry 8,9 . There may also be a core-side chemical and thermal boundary layer, but the low seismic velocities and molten state of the core make it much harder to analyse any structure in the outermost core 2 .In the past decade, seismic tomography has provided steadily improving images of deep mantle elastic velocity heterogeneity, revealing the presence of significant large-scale (Ͼ2,000 km) patterns of coherent high-and low-velocity regions at all depths 10-12 , with enhanced lateral variations in the lowermost 300 km. Attributing the seismological variations to lateral thermal and chemical heterogeneity in the boundary layer suggests several mechanisms of coupling between the core and mantle, influencing the core flow regime as well as irregularities in rotation of the planet 2,13-15 . An experimental demonstration that chemical reactions may be continuing betwee...