The Anelasticity of the Mantle

Abstract

The attenuation of seismic waves provides the most direct data regarding the non-elastic properties of the Earth. Recent experimental results from body waves, surface waves and free oscillations provide estimates of the anelasticity in various regions of the Earth. Results to date show that the upper mantle is more attenuating than the lower mantle, the maximum attenuation is in the vicinity of the low-velocity zone, a rapid increase in attenuation occurs in the vicinity of the C-region of the mantle and compressional waves are less attenuated than shear waves. A frequency dependence of Q has not yet been discovered. Most laboratory measurements of attenuation have been performed at ultrasonic frequencies on pure specimens of metals, glasses, plastics and ceramics. A general feature of laboratory measurements is an exponential increase of attenuation with temperature on which are superimposed peaks which can be attributed to dislocation or other defect phenomena. Measurements on natural rocks at atmospheric pressure can be attributed to the presence of cracks. The intrinsic attenuation of rocks as a function of temperature and pressure is not known. However, on other materials grain boundary phenomena dominate at high temperature. This can be attributed to increased grain boundary mobility at high temperatures. High pressure would be expected to decrease this mobility. If attenuation in the mantle is due to an activated process it is probably controlled by the diffusion rate of defects at grain boundaries. Estimates of attenuation in the lower mantle then yield an estimate of the activation volume of the defects contributing to the loss. If the lower mantle is assumed homogeneous the estimated activation volume is a small fraction of the presumed molal volume of materials making up the lower mantle. Stress induced migration of small point defects is a possible loss mechanism consistent with the observations.

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