INFLUENCE OF MINERALOGICAL THERMODYNAMICS ON MANTLE CONVECTION

The mechanical and thermal behaviour of mantle convection is influenced, among other things, by material parameters of the polycrystalline aggregates. We have implemented a thermodynamic model of mineral phase assemblages and integrated it with a mantle convection simulation to study the impact of thermal versus chemical effects and different mineralogical datasets on the dynamic processes in the earth's mantle. The parameters of the mass and energy balance equations in the convection model are controlled by the properties of the stable phase assemblages obtained through Gibbs free energy minimization at any given pressure and temperature. We also compute elastic moduli of the mineral phases in order to enable comparison between our model and seismological observations during postprocessing.