The Earth's Heterogeneous Mantle highlights and discusses recent developments that have contributed to an improved understanding of observed mantle heterogeneities and their relation to the thermo-chemical state of Earth's mantle, which ultimately holds the key to unlocking the secrets of the evolution of our planet. The Earth's Heterogeneous Mantle of topical reviews and original contributions address 4 themes. Theme 1 covers topics in geophysics, including global and regional seismic tomography, electrical conductivity and seismic imaging of mantle discontinuities and heterogeneities in the upper mantle, transition zone and lower mantle. Theme 2 addresses geochemical views of the mantle including lithospheric evolution from analysis of mantle xenoliths, composition of the deep Earth and the effect of water on subduction-zone processes. Theme 3 discusses geodynamical perspectives on the global thermo-chemical structure of the deep mantle. Theme 4 covers application of mineral physics data and phase equilibrium computations to infer the regional-scale thermo-chemical structure of the mantle.
Part I: Upper Mantle and Transition Zone
- Global Heterogeneity of the Lithosphere and Underlying Mantle: a Seismological Apraisal Based on Multimode Surface-wave Dispersion Analysis, Shear-Velocity Tomography, and Tectonic Regionalization
- Origin of Lateral Heterogeneities in the Upper Mantle Beneath Southeast Australia from Seismic Tomography
- Imaging Mantle Heterogeneity with Upper Mantle Seismic Discontinuities
- Interpreting Radial Anisotropy in Global and Regional Tomographic Models
- Relationships between Seismic Wave-Speed, Density, and Electrical Conductivity Beneath Australia from Seismology, Mineralogy, and Laboratory-Based Conductivity Profiles from Seismic Tomography
- Heterogeneity of Electrical Conductivity in the Oceanic Upper Mantle
- Melt-Pockets and Spongy Clinopyroxenes in Mantle Xenoliths from Plio-Quaternary Al Ghab Volcanic Field, NW Syria: Implications for the Metasomatic Evolution of the Lithosphere
- Elasticity of Continental Crust Around the Mantle Transition Zone
- Effect of Water on Subduction of Continental Materials to the Deep Earth
Part II: Lower Mantle
- The Composition of the Deep Earth
- Chemical Geodynamics in a Non-Chondritic Earth
- Seismic Detections Of Small-Scale Heterogeneities in the Deep Earth
- Seismic Detection of Post-Perovskite Inside the Earth
- Thermally Dominated Deep Mantle LLSVPs : A Review
- Large-Scale Thermo-Chemical Structure of the Deep Mantle: Observations and Models