David A. Yuen

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors performed two-dimensional numerical calculations of convection in a domain containing a divariant phase change and found that the critical value of the negative Clapeyron slope, which must be surpassed in order to induce layered convection, decreases in magnitude with increasing Rayleigh number Ra in the range 104 ≤ Ra ≤ 2×106.

TL;DR: Temperature and composition can be separated, showing that chemical variations contribute to the overall buoyancy and are dominant in the lower 1000 kilometers of the mantle.

TL;DR: These simulations show that cold sheets of mantle material collide at junctions, merge, and form a strong downflow that is stopped temporarily by the transition zone that promotes a massive exchange between the lower and upper mantles and triggers a global instability in the adjacent plume system.

TL;DR: The thermoelastic properties of ferropericlase Mg1−xFexO throughout the iron high-to-low spin cross-over have been investigated by first principles at Earth's lower mantle conditions, in apparent agreement with results from inversion of data related with mantle convection and postglacial rebound.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors review the basic multiscale physics underlying mylonitic, ductile shear zone nucleation, growth and longevity and show that grain size reduction is a symptomatic cause but not necessarily the main reason for localization.