Toward an internally consistent pressure scale

Our ability to interpret seismic observations including the seismic discontinuities and the density and velocity profiles in the earth's interior is critically dependent on the accuracy of pressure measurements up to 364 GPa at high temperature. Pressure scales based on the reduced shock-wave equations of state alone may predict pressure variations up to 7% in the megabar pressure range at room temperature and even higher percentage at high temperature, leading to large uncertainties in understanding the nature of the seismic discontinuities and chemical composition of the earth's interior. Here, we report compression data of gold (Au), platinum (Pt), the NaCl-B2 phase, and solid neon (Ne) at 300 K and high…

• NS
  National Science Foundation

  Award: 0510207
• UD
  U.S. Department of Energy

  Awards: FG02-94ER14466, DE-FG02-94ER14466, DE-FG02-, DE-FG02
• CI
  Carnegie Institution of Washington