Abstract
I HAVE earlier pointed out1 that the incompressibility k appears to change surprisingly little across the boundary (at depth of 2,900 km.) between the earth's mantle and the central core. Formal calculations1,2 based on my results for the earth's density distribution3,4,5 gave k = 6.5 × 1012, 6.2 × 1012 dynes/cm.2 for the materials just above and just below the boundary, respectively. The difference between these two values is, moreover, within the uncertainty of the determination. Furthermore, I find that when values of k are plotted against values of the pressure p in the earth's interior, there is no significant difference indicated in the values of dk/dp above and below the core boundary. On the other hand, it is well established that this boundary sharply separates materials that are widely different in rigidity and in density.
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References
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Bullen, Mon. Not. Roy. Ast. Soc., Geophys. Suppl., 3, 395 (1936).
Bullen, Bull. Seis. Soc. Amer., 30, 235 (1940).
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Bridgman, "The Physics of High Pressure" (G. Bell and Sons., London, 1931), 182.
Jeffreys, Mon. Not. Roy. Ast. Soc, Geophys. Suppl., 4, 510 (1939).
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Bernal, Observatory, 59, 268 (1936).
Jeffreys, Mon. Not. Roy. Ast. Soc, Geophys. Suppl., 4, 602 (1939).
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BULLEN, K. A Hypothesis on Compressibility at Pressures of the Order of a Million Atmospheres. Nature 157, 405 (1946). https://doi.org/10.1038/157405a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/157405a0
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