Preprints
https://doi.org/10.5194/sed-7-3817-2015
https://doi.org/10.5194/sed-7-3817-2015
15 Dec 2015
 | 15 Dec 2015
Status: this preprint was under review for the journal SE but the revision was not accepted.

A simple 3-D numerical model of thermal convection in Earth's growing inner core: on the possibility of the formation of the degree-one structure with lateral viscosity variations

M. Yoshida

Abstract. An east-west hemispherically asymmetric structure for Earth's inner core has been suggested by various seismological evidence, but its origin is not clearly understood. Here, to investigate the possibility of an "endogenic origin" for the degree-one thermal/mechanical structure of the inner core, I performed new numerical simulations of thermal convection in the growing inner core. A setup value that controls the viscosity contrast between the inner core boundary and the interior of the inner core, ΔηT, was taken as a free parameter. Results show that the degree-one structure only appeared for a limited range of ΔηT; such a scenario may be possible but is not considered probable for the real Earth. The degree-one structure may have been realized by an "exogenous factor" due to the planetary-scale thermal coupling among the lower mantle, the outer core, and the inner core, not by an endogenic factor due to the internal rheological heterogeneity.

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M. Yoshida
 
Status: closed
Status: closed
AC: Author comment | RC: Referee comment | SC: Short comment | EC: Editor comment
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Status: closed
Status: closed
AC: Author comment | RC: Referee comment | SC: Short comment | EC: Editor comment
Printer-friendly Version - Printer-friendly version Supplement - Supplement
M. Yoshida
M. Yoshida

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Short summary
An east–west hemispherically asymmetric structure for Earth’s inner core has been suggested by various seismological evidence, but its origin is not clearly understood. Here, to investigate the possibility of an “endogenic origin” for the degree-one thermal/mechanical structure of the inner core, I performed new numerical simulations of thermal convection in the growing inner core. Results show that the degree-one structure may have been realized by an “exogenous factor”.