  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.
