The dominant minerals in Earth's lower mantle are thought to be Fe-and Al-bearing MgSiO 3 bridgmanite and (Mg,Fe)O ferropericlase 1 . However, experimental measurements of the elasticity of these minerals at realistic lower-mantle pressures and temperatures remain impractical. As a result, di erent compositional models for the Earth's lower mantle have been proposed 2-4 . Theoretical simulations, which depend on empirical evaluations of the e ects of Fe incorporation into these minerals, support a pyrolitic lower mantle that contains a significant amount of ferropericlase 5,6 , much like the Earth's upper mantle. Here we present first-principles computations combined with a lattice dynamics approach that include the e ects of Fe 2+ and Fe 3+ incorporation. We calculate the densities and elastic-wave velocities of several possible lower-mantle compositions with varying amounts of ferropericlase along a mantle geotherm. On the basis of our calculations of aggregate elasticities, we conclude that neither a perovskitic composition (about 9:1 bridgmanite to ferropericlase by volume) nor an olivine-like composition (about 7:3) reproduces the seismological reference model of average Earth properties. However, an intermediate volume fraction (about 8:2) consistent with a pyrolitic composition can reproduce the reference velocities and densities. Bridgmanite that is rich in ferric iron produces the best fit. Our findings support a uniform chemical composition throughout the present-day mantle, which we suggest is the result of whole-mantle convection.Determination of the chemical composition of the lower mantle (LM) has long been one of the central research topics in the deep Earth sciences. The LM composition is key to understanding its dynamical properties. For example, if the LM has a different composition from the upper mantle (UM), these regions convect separately. If the UM and LM have the same composition, then whole-mantle convection is expected 7 . However, physical properties of LM minerals determined from high-pressure (P) and high-temperature (T ) experiments have some uncertainties due to technical difficulties, which give substantial discrepancies on this issue. Several different models have been proposed 2-6,8-15 depending on the research approaches used. Generally, experiments based on the multianvil apparatus propose a pyrolitic LM (refs 2,8,9). In the pyrolite model, a Mg/Si ratio of ∼1.3 is proposed, yielding a notable amount of (Mg,Fe)O ferropericlase (Fp), a solid solution of MgO and FeO together with Fe-and Al-bearing MgSiO 3 bridgmanite (MgBr). A particular composition with the olivine-like Mg/Si ratio as high as 2.0 was however suggested by the equations of state (EoS) measurements using multianvil apparatus with sintered diamonds 3 . An alternative view that the LM is MgBr dominant, corresponding to the perovskitic or chondritic model (Mg/Si ∼ 1.0), is proposed based on diamond-anvil cell experiments 4,10,11 . On the other hand, some geochemical analyses 12,13 suggest layering in the LM in conjunc...
It is recognized that aluminium (Al) is a potential environmental hazard. Acidic deposition has been linked to increased Al concentrations in natural waters. Elevated levels of Al might have serious consequences for biological communities. Of particular interest is the speciation of Al in aquatic environments, because Al toxicity depends on its forms and concentrations. In this paper, advances in analytical methodologies for Al speciation in environmental and biological samples during the past five years are reviewed. Concerns about the specific problems of Al speciation and highlights of some important methods are elucidated in sections devoted to hybrid techniques (HPLC or FPLC coupled with ET-AAS, ICP-AES, or ICP-MS), flow-injection analysis (FIA), nuclear magnetic resonance (27Al NMR), electrochemical analysis, and computer simulation. More than 130 references are cited.
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