MEXT Shin-Gakujutsu “Core-Mantle Coevolution”　International Lecture

Dr. Maxim D. Ballmer (ETH, Switzerland) gave an international lecture at the University of Tokyo, School of science (2018/1/17-19). Five students from the department of Earth and Planetary Science and department of Astronomy had the opportunity to learn about geodynamical simulations of mantle convection, with a focus on mantle plumes. The students could apply what they learned during the practical session of the course, during which they simulated thermochemical convection using a Matlab code provided by the professor.

The lecture of Dr. Maxim D. Ballmer gave me a much better understanding of how the models of mantle convection are built. Seismologists imaging the structure of the mantle using seismic tomography rely heavily on models of mantle convection, e.g. to understand what happens to slabs when they penetrate in the lower mantle, or the formation of plumes from large thermochemical piles at the bottom of the Earth’s mantle. The simulations of thermochemical convection that we ran during the practical session of the course gave me a good idea of how important physical parameters (e.g. diffusivity, thermal expansion, density) affect convection, which will really help me to understand more precisely the work of geodynamicists. (Anselme Borgeaud, PhD student in Seismology)