Laboratory and Theoretical Studies in Geological Fluid Mechanics

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The PI will carry out laboratory studies of fundamental fluid mechanical processes which have important geophysical applications. He will carry out a laboratory study of the Rayleigh-Taylor class of instability in several geometries relevant to volcanism at mid-ocean ridges. This will examine the validity of recently proposed models of the segmentation observed at mid-ocean ridges. He will also investigate a novel in- stability of magma flow which is due to the strong variation of magma viscosity with temperature. He will illustrate this instability in laboratory analogues of both fissure and lava flows and quantify the length and time scales over which it develops.