Theoretical and experimental evidence for a post-perovskite phase of MgSiO3 in Earth's D" layer

The Earth's lower mantle is believed to be composed mainly of (Mg,Fe)SiO3 perovskite, with lesser amounts of (Mg,Fe)O and CaSiO3). But it has not been possible to explain many unusual properties of the lowermost 150 km of the mantle (the D" layer) with this mineralogy. Here, using ab initio simulations and high-pressure experiments, we show that at pressures and temperatures of the D" layer, MgSiO3 transforms from perovskite into a layered CaIrO3-type post-perovskite phase. The elastic properties of the post-perovskite phase and its stability field explain several observed puzzling properties of the D" layer: its seismic anisotropy, the strongly undulating shear-wave discontinuity at its top and possibly the anticorrelation between shear and bulk sound velocities.Comment: PUBLISHED IN Nature 430, 445-448 (2004

The Accidental Terrorist: Okhrana Connections to the Extreme-Right and the Attempt to Assassinate Sergei Witte in 1907

This article represents a case study in the relationship between the tsarist secret police (commonly known as the Okhrana in the West and okhranka in Russia) and acts of political terror perpetrated by the extreme-right in late imperial Russia. This specific case concerns the tangled web of conspiracy, propaganda and controversy that surrounded the attempted assassination of former-Chairman of the Council of Ministers, Sergei Witte, in 1907