Understanding depth variation of deep seismicity from in situ measurements of mineral strengths at high pressures

Strengths of major minerals of Earth’s mantle have been measured using in situ synchrotron X-ray diffraction at high pressures. Analysis of the diffraction peak widths is used to derive the yield strengths. Systematic analysis of the experimental result for olivine, wadsleyite, ringwoodite and perovskite indicates that minerals in the upper mantle, the transition zone and the lower mantle have very distinct strength character. Increasing temperature weakens the upper mantle mineral, olivine, significantly. At high temperature and high pressure, the transition zone minerals, wadsleyite and ringwoodite, have higher strengths than the upper mantle mineral. Among all the minerals studied, the lower mantle mineral, perovskite, has the highest strength. While both the upper mantle and the transition zone minerals show a notable strength drop, the strength of the lower mantle mineral shows just an increase of relaxation rate (no strength drop) when the temperature is increased stepwise by 200 K. The strength characteristics of these major mantle minerals at high pressures and temperatures indicate that yield strength may play a crucial role in defining the profile of deep earthquake occurrence with depth.