Modelling of geological fluid flows

这一提议资助的研究将有助于我们通过数值模拟的方式更好地了解地幔对流以及其他流体力学性质的地质现象。地幔中的热对流是控制地球冷却速度的过程，它为板块构造运动提供动力。这些都是许多重要的地表地质过程的原因。地幔中的对流也通过地球表面的火山作用导致地球分化为不同的地幔和地壳层。它位于地核的顶端，因此控制着核心冷却的速度，这会影响到内核在冻结过程中的增长速度以及地球磁场的产生。我对了解地球内部详细的热能收支和上述过程的历史非常感兴趣。为了研究地幔相变、粘度和地球化学的不同分布等因素如何影响地幔中的热传输效率和地球的长期演化，有必要对地幔对流进行模拟。我还建议启动一个模拟火星和其他类地行星的热演化的计划，以帮助了解这些行星与我们自己的行星之间的异同。我也对地质系统中的“糊状层”非常感兴趣。尽管它们被认为存在于固化的岩浆室中，但它们通常发生在多组分混合物的凝固或融化时。在海冰和内-核-外-核边界。它们的动力学很有趣，因为组分在凝固过程中发生分馏，这会导致浮力驱动对流，而对流又会影响融化和凝固的模式以及最终系统的组成。我建议建立和使用这些地质系统的数值模型，以更好地了解它们的动力学。

The research funded by this proposal will help us to better understand convection in Earth's mantle as well as other geological phenomena that are fluid mechanical in nature by means of numerical modelling.  Thermal convection in the Earth's mantle is the process that controls the rate at which Earth is cooling and it supplies the driving force for plate tectonic motions.  These are the cause of many important surface geological processes.  Convection in Earth's mantle has also lead to the differentiation of the Earth into distinct layers of mantle and crust through volcanism at the Earth's surface.  The mantle sits atop the core and hence controls the rate at which the core is cooling which affects the rate at which the inner core is growing through freezing as well as the generation of the Earth's magnetic field.   I am very interested in understanding the detailed thermal energy budget of the earth's interior and the history of the above mentioned processes.  Modelling of convection in Earth's mantle is necessary in order to investigate how factors such as mantle phase transitions and differing distributions of viscosity and geochemistry can affect the efficiency of heat transport in the mantle and Earth's long-term evolution.  I also propose to initiate a program of modelling the thermal evolution of Mars and the other terrestrial planets in order to help understand the similarities and differences between these planets and our own.I am also very interested in "mushy layers" in geological systems.  Mushy layers often occur when there is solidification or melting of a multi-component mixture.  They are believed to exist in solidifying magma chambers, in sea-ice and at the inner-core outer-core boundary.  Their dynamics are interesting because fractionation of the components occurs as solidification proceeds which can result in buoyancy forces that drive convection which in turn can affect the pattern of melting and solidification and the composition of the final system.  I propose to build and use numerical models of these geological systems in order to better understand their dynamics.