Modelling of geological fluid flows

这项建议资助的研究将有助于我们通过数值模拟更好地了解地幔中的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率的过程，它为板块构造运动提供了驱动力。 这些是许多重要的地表地质作用的原因。 地幔的对流也导致地球通过地表的火山活动分化为不同的地幔层和地壳层。 地幔位于地核的顶部，因此控制着地核冷却的速度，而地核冷却的速度又影响着内核通过冻结而生长的速度，以及地球磁场的产生。 我非常有兴趣了解地球内部详细的热能收支和上述过程的历史。 为了研究地幔相变和不同的粘度和地球化学分布等因素如何影响地幔中热传输的效率和地球的长期演化，有必要对地幔中的对流进行建模。 我还建议启动一个模拟火星和其他类地行星热演化的计划，以帮助了解这些行星与我们自己的相似之处和不同之处。我对地质系统中的“糊状层”也很感兴趣。 当存在多组分混合物的固化或熔化时，经常出现糊状层。 它们被认为存在于正在凝固的岩浆库、海冰和内核与内核的边界。 它们的动力学是有趣的，因为组分的分馏随着固化的进行而发生，这可能导致浮力驱动对流，这反过来又可能影响熔化和固化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，以便更好地了解它们的动态。

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.