Mantle velocity profiles

Bina C. R. and Silver P. G. (1990) Constraints on lower mantle composition and temperature from density and bulk sound velocity profiles. Geophys. Res. Lett. 17, 1153—1156. 

Figure 4-19 Plagioclase phase diagram and plagioclase melting Figure 4-20 Free falling velocity of a mantle xenolith in a basalt Figure 4-21 Sketch of boundary layer, and boundary layer thickness Figure 4-22 MgO diffusion profile in olivine and in melt during olivine growth...

The densities of the different layers within the Earth can be also be inferred by combining information from P- and S-body waves with data from surface wave oscillation periods. This then permits a density-depth profile to be constructed for the Earth, the mantle section of which is shown in Fig. 3.1. These data have been progressively improved and refined into a reference model for the Earth showing the average depth-velocity-density structure of the Earth. These data were first presented as a Preliminary Reference Earth Model (PREM -Dziewonski Anderson, 1981), the mantle part of which was subsequently refined by Montagner and Anderson (1989). 

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