Some geophysical implications of phase transitions inside the earth
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1975
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Abstract
The motion of a phase boundary inside the Earth, caused by the application of pressure and temperature perturbations at the surface, is determined under a linear approximation. The Laplace transform is used to determine the Green's function for the phase boundary motion. The inversion of th Laplace transform can be performed by term by term inversion of its series expansion, or by integration along a branch cut. This former method yields simple analytical expressions that are applicable to many geophysical problems: for example, the problem of uplift and subsidence caused by a phase transition Mohorovicic discontinuity. The results show that the amplitude of the phase boundary motion is inversely proportional to the difference in slope between the Clausius-Clapeyron equation and the geotherm. The relaxation time associated with the phase boundary motion depends on the latent heat of transformation, on the difference between the geothermal and transition temperature gradient, on the thermal conductivity, and on the heat capacity.
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Major geophysics