Phase transition zone width implications for convection structure

A temperature and pressure increase in the mantle causes phase transitions and related density changes in its material. The transition boundary in the pressure-temperature phase diagram is determined by the curve of phase equilibrium with the slope γ = dp/dT. If the slope is nonzero, a phase transition in hot ascending and cold descending mantle flows occurs at different depths and, therefore, either enhances (γ > 0) or slows down convection (γ < 0). The mantle material has a multicomponent composition. Therefore, phase transitions in the mantle are distributed over an interval of pressures and depths. In this interval, the concentration of one phase smoothly decreases and the concentration of the other increases. The widths of phase transition zones in the Earth’s mantle vary from 3 km for the endothermic transition in olivine at a depth of 660 km to 500 km for the exothermic transition in perovskite, and the high-to-low spin change in the atomic state of iron takes place at a depth of about 1500 km. This work presents results of calculations demonstrating the convection effect of phase transitions as a function of the transition zone width. Transitions of both types with different slopes of the phase curve and different intensities of mantle convection are examined. For the first time, the convection enhancement and an increase in the mass transfer across the phase boundary are quantitatively investigated in the presence of an exothermic phase transition as a function of the slope of the phase curve. The mixing of material under conditions of partially layered convection is examined with the help of markers.