Fig. 1: Compilation of J-wave speed estimates from seismological observations and recent mineral physics simulations.
From: An estimate of absolute shear-wave speed in the Earth’s inner core
a Different values of J-wave speeds obtained from multiple IC-solidity studies. Colors represent different methodologies (blue: normal modes, red: shear body waves, purple: coda-correlation wavefield, and gray: mineral physics estimates). Squares denote the averaged J-wave speeds, and the bars represent the range of J-wave speeds from the inner-core boundary (ICB) to the Earth’s center, available in some studies. b Summary of recent mineral physics hypotheses2,3,5,37,38 providing possible explanations for seismologically observed low J-wave speeds. Colored lines show different J-wave speeds as functions of temperatures at 360 GPa, the pressure at the Earth’s center4. The shaded area corresponds to the range of J-wave speeds shown in panel (a).
