Small-Scale Mineralogical Heterogeneity from Variations in Phase Assemblages in the Transition Zone and D＂ Layer Predicted by Convection Modelling

Small-scale heterogeneity in the deep mantle is concentrated in the upper-mantle transition zone （TZ）, in the depth range 410-660 km and also at the bottom 250 km D＂ region. This encourages a more detailed investigation of the potential for seismic reflectivity imaging by modelling heterogeneous structures in mantle convection models including phase transitions of the TZ and D＂ regions. We applied finite elements with variable spacing near the boundary layers in 2-D cylindrical geometry that allow for sufficient spatial resolution. We investigated several models including an extended Boussinesq （EBA） model, focused on the D＂ region, and a compressible （ALA） model for the TZ region. The results for the D＂ region show typical lens-shaped structures of post-perovskite （PPV） embedded in the perovskite （PV） background mantle, where the thickness of the lenses, at 200-400 km, strongly depends on the Clapeyron slope of the PV-PPV transition. A second phase transition （double crossing） occurs in case the core tempera