On the role of fluctuations at the boundary of Earth’s solid core

On the inhomogeneity of the transition surface layer of the solid core of the earth

“…From the point of view of glassy phase transition [3], when the Earth's core is solidified, the abovemen tioned core interlayer is a transition region of temper ature hysteresis (the interval between the solidus and liquidus), in which metastable regions of the solid and liquid phases coexist; this situation is characteristic of the first order transition, which is close to the second order transition in the case under consideration. Solid and liquid inclusions of different sizes with various chemical reactions occurring in them may arise and disappear for a very long time in this interlayer.…”

“…Assuming that μ m ~ 10 11 Pa s, σ ~ 1 J/m 2 , and Ca = 10, we find r 0 ~ 10 -6 m = 10 4 Å. According to the estimates of [3], this spherical nucleus can be formed in 10 s, whereas the growth of a nucleus with r 0 ~ 1 cm would require several millions of years. Its degree of flattening (the ratio of the major axis to the minor axis h) would be 100. r of heat and light matter from the solid core to the Earth's mantle are more intense on this dividing line in the equatorial plane (below Malaysia) [5].…”

“…This indicates that global nonturbulent circulation should occur in the liquid core [13,22]. 3 Thus, we can speak about two different viscosity coef ficients, μ l and μ m , which are related to different sub stances: heavy melt in the liquid core and light liquid in the solid core with a low porosity ε.…”

“…According to the data of [17], the vis cosity of the Fe-FeS melt under similar conditions was 0.036 Pa s; the viscosity of the Fe 72 S 28 melt was lower than that of the iron melt by 15-10%. Thus, the 3 This may lead to nonadiabatic temperature distribution in the liquid core [13,22].…”

“…In addition, the flows 1 The sizes of liquid inclusions were estimated in [3]. The estima tion was performed at large values of the capillarity number Ca = μ m ωr 0 /σ, where μ m is the melt viscosity, ω is the angular veloc ity of the Earth (about 7 × 10 -5 s -1 ), σ is the surface tension of FeS drops, and r 0 is the spherical inclusion radius.…”