Using Mineral Analogs to Understand the Deep Earth

This chapter reviews the use of analog materials in the study of the deep earth that has a long history. It highlights the most inaccessible environments of the solid Earth and the use of materials as analogs for the iron alloy of Earth's inner core, for the liquid alloy of the outer core, the post-perovskite material of the base of the lower mantle, and for the most abundant terrestrial silicate, bridgmanite. The complexity and subtleties of the lowermost mantle suggest significant structural effects that could be associated with either mineral transformations or compositional or thermal heterogeneity. Some of the earliest examples of the use of analogs in an attempt to understand the behavior of perovskite in the deep mantle include that of Ringwood and Seabrook who noted the value of studying germanates to replicate the high-pressure behavior of silicates.