Takashi Nakagawa
Commendation
Revealing dynamics, structure and evolution of the deep planetary interior by numerical modeling
A list of five major papers
- Nakagawa, T. and P. J. Tackley, Lateral variations of CMB heat flux and deep mantle seismic velocity caused by a thermal-chemical-phase boundary layer in 3D spherical convection, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 271, 348-358, 2008.
- Nakagawa, T. and P. J. Tackley, Influence of initial CMB temperature and other parameters on the thermal evolution of Earth’s core resulting from thermo-chemical spherical mantle convection, Geochem. Geophys. Geosyst., 11, Q06001, doi:10.1029/2010GC003031, 2010. (Highlighted in Nature Geoscience).
- Nakagawa, T., P. J. Tackley, F. Deschamps, and J. A.D. Connolly, The influence of MORB and Harzburgite composition on thermo-chemical mantle convection in a 3-D spherical shell with self-consistently calculated mineral physics, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 296, 403-412, 2010.
- Nakagawa, T. and P. J. Tackley, Influence of magmatism on mantle cooling, surface heat flow and Urey ratio, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 329-330, 1-10, 2012.
- Nakagawa, T., and M. Spiegelman, Global-scale water circulation in the Earth’s mantle: Implications for the mantle water budget in the early Earth, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 464, 189-199, doi:10.1016/j.epsl.02.010, 2017.”
Major achievements
Since the early 2000s, Takashi Nakagawa has contributed to the study of the dynamics, structure and evolution of deep planetary interior by conducting three-dimensional thermo-chemical mantle convection simulations incorporating accomplishments of mineral physics and geochemistry and geodynamo simulations. The main results can be summarized as follows.
(1) He showed that basaltic components could strongly affect the dynamics, evolution structure of the Earth’s deep interior, which might accumiulate the bottom of mantle transition zone and core-mantle boundary (CMB) region and work for a heat buffer across the CMB heat flow, and that post-perovskite phase transition and alumina component of mantle minerals were important for understanding the structure of the Earth’s deep interior, in particular in the CMB region.
(2) He showed that, in addition to convective heat and mass trasnports, the magmatic heat transport was also essential for revealing the thermal history of the Earth, and that it was successful to describe the entire evolution process of the Earth’s deep interior in one mantle convection simulation model that could include the generation of plate tectonics even in the growth history of the inner core.
(3) By modeling the mantle water cycle in numerical mantle convection simulations, he showed that the water uptake caused by plate subduction could control the mantle water cycle and evolution of ocean water mass due to the viscosity reduction associated with mantle water content, and that the mantle water content at the present-day Earth could reach six times as much as the present-day amount of surface seawater.
Dr. Nakagawa’s research has been highly recognized by the international communities on studies of Earth’s history and of the Earth’s deep interior.
Nominator
Tomoo Katsura