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Earth science

Limits of the power law

Nature volume 481, pages 153–154 (2012)Cite this article

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Multi-scale modelling of the deformation of magnesium oxide reveals the need for a re-examination of the way in which laboratory data are used to estimate the strength of Earth's lower mantle. See Letter p.177

For billions of years, convective currents in Earth's solid mantle have cooled and stirred our planet's deep interior and caused tectonic plates to drift centimetres each year. This process is slow, powerful and, given the presumed physical properties of mantle rocks, inevitable1. A fundamental controlling factor in mantle convection is how quickly mantle minerals deform. This parameter is expressed as the relationship between the rate of change of strain of the mantle and the stress imposed on it. Despite progress towards laboratory measurement of this relationship under the conditions of temperature (1,800–4,300 kelvin) and pressure (20–130 gigapascals) found in the lower mantle (660–2,900 kilometres beneath Earth's surface), experiments that reach the low strain rate expected in Earth's mantle have not been possible. The use of experimental data for studies of mantle convection thus requires extrapolation.

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Figure 1: Multi-scale model of the deformation of magnesium oxide.

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  1. Andrew M. Walker is at the School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1RJ, UK.,

    Andrew M. Walker

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Correspondence to Andrew M. Walker.

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Walker, A. Limits of the power law. Nature 481, 153–154 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/481153a

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