SYNTHESIS AND REINVESTIGATION OF THE ELASTIC PROPERTIES OF SINGLE-CRYSTAL MAGNESIUM-SILICATE PEROVSKITE

Single crystals of MgSiO3 in the perovskite structure have been grown at a peak pressure of 26 GPa and temperature of approximately 1600 K using a 2000 ton uniaxial split-sphere high-pressure apparatus (USSA-2000). The specimens were subsequently utilized to re-investigate the single-crystal elastic properties of this phase at ambient conditions using laser Brillouin spectroscopy. The nine adiabatic single-crystal elastic stiffness coefficients, in units of GPa, are: C-11 = 482, C22 = 537, C33 = 485, C44 = 204, C55 = 186, C66 = 147, C-12 = 144, C-13 = 147, C23 = 146. The resulting estimated Voigt-Reuss-Hill (VRH) aggregate isotropic elastic moduli are: K = 264.0 and mu = 177.3 GPa, respectively. The single-crystal elastic moduli of MgSiO3 perovskite display a pattern that is elastically somewhat anisotropic. The maximum shear and compressional velocities are 18% and 7% greater than the minimum. The [010] crystallographic direction contains both the fastest and the slowest shear wave velocities. If, under lower mantle conditions, magnesium silicate perovskite grains were to become preferentially oriented, a shear wave propagating in the Earth's lower mantle could become polarized with two distinct velocities. The observed density and seismic parameter of the lower mantle over the depth range of 1000-2700 km are compared with the calculated profiles for a model mantle consisting of pure perovskite (Mg0.89,Fe0.11)SiO3 and for a mixture composed of silicate perovskite and magnesiowustite using our new elasticity results. At present, literature values of thermoelastic properties for silicate perovskite, in particular, the coefficient of thermal expansion and the temperature derivative of the isothermal bulk modulus, vary widely. Because of this disparity, we find that mantle models ranging from pure perovskite to 'pyrolitic'-type compositions provide acceptable fits to the seismically observed density and velocity profiles of the Earth's lower mantle.