HR: 1340h
AN: MR43A-0978 [Abstracts]
TI: Are CaIrO3 and MgGeO3 isomechanical to MgSiO3-post-perovskite ?
AU: * Metsue, A
EM: arnaud.metsue@ed.univ-lille1.fr
AF: Laboratoire de Structure et Proprietes de l'Etat Solide UMR CNRS 8008, Universite des
Sciences et Technologies de Lille bat. C6, Villeneuve d'Ascq, F-59655, France
AU: Carrez, P
EM: philippe.carrez@univ-lille1.fr
AF: Laboratoire de Structure et Proprietes de l'Etat Solide UMR CNRS 8008, Universite des
Sciences et Technologies de Lille bat. C6, Villeneuve d'Ascq, F-59655, France
AU: Mainprice, D
EM: david.mainprice@gm.univ-montp2.fr
AF: Geosciences Montpellier UMR CNRS 5243, Universite Montpellier 2, Montpellier, F-34095,
France
AU: Cordier, P
EM: patrick.cordier@univ-lille1.fr
AF: Laboratoire de Structure et Proprietes de l'Etat Solide UMR CNRS 8008, Universite des
Sciences et Technologies de Lille bat. C6, Villeneuve d'Ascq, F-59655, France
AB:
The recent discovery of MgSiO3 post-perovskite (pPv) and prediction of its elastic properties using atomistic
modelling has major implications for the interpretation of seismic anisotropy of the D" layer. Because they don't
take into account lattice preferred orientations induced by convective flow, the elastic properties are not sufficient
to interpret seismic anisotropy and it is necessary to investigate the plasticity of this mineral. However, it is well
known that pressure and temperature near the core-mantle boundary make experimental studies extremely
difficult. To circumvent this difficulty, experimental studies are often carried out on analogous phases (stable at
lower pressures) which are supposed to exhibit the same mechanical properties as the high-pressure phase. In
this work, we calculate the dislocation properties of MgGeO3 pPv at 120GPa and CaIrO3 pPv at ambient
pressure using the Peierls-Nabarro (PN) model. The so-called PN model is a fundamental concept of the
dislocation theory which describes the resistance of the lattice to dislocation motion, a very important factor for the
plasticity of silicates. The PN model also provides an analytical description of the dislocation core and of its
potential spreading in the glide plane. Known for several decades, the PN model has triggered a renewed
interest when Christian and Vitek (1970) showed that realistic models of dislocations could be built by
incorporating generalized stacking faults (GSF) into the PN model. Here, we use the ab initio total-energy
package VASP to calculate GSF, which are incorporated in the PN model. In that way, we obtain a model of the
dislocation core profile and the value of the stress required to move a dislocation (the so-called Peierls stress) for
ten slip systems of each compound. These results are compared to those recently published on MgSiO3 post-
perovskite to assess the potential relevance of the analogue approach in studying the rheology of the D" layer.
We show that, besides the crystal structure, atomic bonding is an important feature in constraining plastic strain
anisotropy. The greatest contrast between Ca-O and Ir-O bond strengths compared to Mg-O and Ge-O or Si-O
makes CaIrO3 behave very distinctly from MgSiO3. Although still present, differences are smaller between
MgGeO3 and MgSiO3.
DE: 0545 Modeling (4255)
DE: 3902 Creep and deformation
DE: 3904 Defects
DE: 5120 Plasticity, diffusion, and creep
SC: Mineral and Rock Physics [MR]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting