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Electric conductivity of the lower mantle. Methods and results

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Abstract

The methods and results of estimating the electric conductivity of the Earth’s lower mantle are discussed. It has been indicated that the available estimates are qualitative since, first, the spatial-temporal characteristics of the geomagnetic variations on the Earth’s surface have been insufficiently accurate until recently and, second, the models of variations on the core surface are hypothetical. The situation is similar to the problem of determining filter parameters without knowing a filter entry. Nevertheless, the estimates of admissible conductivity limits at the mantle-core boundary and the general form of the conductivity radial dependence have been obtained based on the Earth thermodynamic model and certain global characteristics of the secular geomagnetic variations.

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Original Russian Text © V.P. Golovkov, S.V. Yakovleva, 2006, published in Geomagnetizm i Aeronomiya, 2006, Vol. 46, No. 5, pp. 714–719.

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Golovkov, V.P., Yakovleva, S.V. Electric conductivity of the lower mantle. Methods and results. Geomagn. Aeron. 46, 676–681 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0016793206050173

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