Spontaneous destabilization of a compositionally stably stratified mantle in the Early Earth

Crystallization processes, a partial or complete overturn of the early mantle and other processes can lead to a compositionally stably stratified mantle which may hinder of even prevent convective currents. In the classical view, the layer will be stable if the restoring force, generated by the compositional stratification will exceed the driving force as provided by heating the layer from the core. The situation resembles the diffusive scenario of double diffusive convection, characterized by the fast diffusing component (heat) being the driving force, while the slowly diffusing component (composition) acts as the restoring force. If perturbed, subcritical convection can eventually take plain ce.  While in  pure thermal convection , subcritical flow only develops as localized patterns, in the double diffusive case, a perturbation can lead to a global destabilization (blue sky bifurcation) of the system, due to a sufficient finite  amplitude perturbation. . In this study we have investigated the influence of a finite amplitude perturbation of varying magnitudes , namely realze by an impact on a stably stratified mantle. Numerical experiments in 2- and 3D, cartesian and spherical simulations, based on a Finite Volume scheme  have been conducted to study the evolution of such a system. Key parameters  which characterize the evolution are the (1) initial stratification and the structure f the perturbation. The viscosity structure is a further influencing factor.

The experiments show that an impact into a stably stratified mantle can lead to a global destabilization, giving rise to complex flow patterns, including local and transient layering of the mantle flow. An evolutionary path of a planet from a stably stratified state to a complex layered period and/or to a full convection mode seems sensitive.