U.S.-Australia Cooperative Research: Elasticity of High- Pressure Phases of Mantle Minerals

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This award will support collaborative research between Dr. Robert C. Liebermann of the State University of New York at Stony Brook and Dr. Ian Jackson of the Australian National University. This research is to investigate the elastic properties of the high-pressure phases of mantle minerals. Specifically, the project will synthesize polycrystalline specimens of the high-pressure phases of olivine (a silicate of magnesium and iron) in the large-volume, split-sphere apparatus at Stony Brook and determine the pressure dependence of the elastic wave velocities of these specimens in the ultrasonics laboratory at the Australian National University. The project represents excellent collaboration between the Australian group with its unique ultrasonics laboratory and the equally unique Liebermann high-pressure apparatus at Stony Brook. This is important fundamental work to achieve better understanding of the elastic properties of the high- pressure phases of mantle minerals. In addition, the new data will be utilized to construct improved models of velocity depth profiles in the Earth's mantle for comparison with seismological measurements.