Current Members
Wendy Panero
Assistant Professor
See
her website
Daniel M Reaman
2nd year PhD candidate
"Diamond" Dan performs high-pressure experimental work on deep Earth
materials using the laser-heated diamond anvil cell (LHDAC) and the
hydrothermal diamond anvil cell (HDAC). His goal is to gain a better
understanding of the structure and dynamics of these materials at
conditions of high-pressure and high temperature, reproducing
conditions present in planetary interiors. His main focus consists of
inner-core composition, micro-structure and dynamics (e.g. viscosity,
deformation mechanisms, seismic anisotropy). In addition, he and his
colleagues have developed innovative, micro-fabricated, controlled
geometry samples for use in the diamond anvil cell, as well as study
high-pressure phase changes in important uranium-bearing silicates such
as coffinite.
See Dan's
abstract from his PhD proposal
Terrilynn Easter
2nd year Master's Student
(plans on continuing with her PhD and graduating in 2010)
Terrilynn's primary interest is in modeling
and understanding terrestrial systems such as helictite cave
formations. Presently she uses ab-initio
calculations from VASP (http://cms.mpi.univie.ac.at/vasp/), thermodynamic models, and programming in MatLab (http://www.mathworks.com/products/matlab/) to investigate solid solution systems. For her MS thesis she is using this process
in order to reproduce low pressure P-T-x phase diagrams for the halite
(NaCl)-sylvite(KCl) system. By using the theory of cluster expansion, the
question to be answered is whether experimentally measured anomolous
relationships between the thermal heat of expansion and bulk modulus
vs.composition are due to Schottky pair produced vacancies in the consolute
region of the phase diagram.
Sara Whitaker
2nd year Master's student
Sara is investigating the potential for potassium and rubidium
in Earth's core and how these radiogenic isotopes might affect Earth's
heat
budget. She is also working on how iron oxidation effects the
absorption of rubidium and potassium into the iron.
To do this, she implements the use of the LHDAC and Brookhaven
National Laboratory (BNL) at the National Synchrotron Light Source
(NSLS).
Jason Kabbes
1st year Master's student
Jason's work is geared toward answering large scale questions
that will increase the fundamental understanding of the Earth’s mineralogical
composition. His research is currently
aimed at quantifying mantle redox state as a function of depth and investigating
its impact on mantle mineralogy. He is
focusing on constraining the C-CO and Fe-FeO mineral redox buffers relative to
one another at high temperatures and pressures using the laser heated diamond
anvil cell. He collects data at BNL at the NSLS, as well as uses several
analytical techniques available here at Ohio State such as Focused Ion Beam
milling (FIB) coupled with STEM.
He is also
interested in elemental and oxide partitioning into the core, ƒO2 of
magma chambers beneath Iceland, and development of new techniques to measure
the ferric to ferrous ratio of iron.
Jeff Pigott
Undergraduate Senior
Fluid transport times in subduction zones are constrained to first
order by the viscosity of water released during the dehydration of the
subducted slab. Water is transported from the slab into the mantle
wedge and facilitates melting. By accurately determining the viscosity
of water at elevated pressures and temperatures that are representative
of a subduction zone environment, timescales that are associated with
arc volcanism may be verified. Using a diamond anvil cell, pressures
and temperatures of subduction zones are re-created in a laboratory
environment, and coupled with particle tracking velocimetry, effective
viscosities of water at those conditions can be quantified.
Eugenia Hyung
Undergraduate Junior
Eugenia is working on analyzing various x-ray diffraction data of
rubidium hollandite (a high pressure state of feldspar) and rubicline
under high pressures similar to that of the Earth's lower mantle in
order to find the behavior and sense of stability of that may well
store potassium. She is also working on a project to improve the
calibration of temperatures of various metals by measuring
wavelength-dependent emissivities.
OSU
Mineral Physics Research Group Home Page