CALCULATION OF ELASTIC PROPERTIES FROM THERMODYNAMIC EQUATION OF STATE PRINCIPLES

Fundamental thermodynamic relations prescribe a method for the calculation of densities and seismic velocities at high pressures and temperatures. The mineralogical data required for these calculations continue to improve. The seismological parameter that can be computed with most confidence from current mineralogical data is the bulk sound velocity νφ. Seismology already provides very useful data for mineral physics that have not been fully exploited to date: notably the νs profiles, which depend upon the depth variation of a single elastic modulus, μ, in addition to the density. Room pressure values of α(T), CP(T), K, K′, and μ are available for virtually all known mantle minerals. This permits νφ and ρ calculations to be made with some confidence. -from Authors