RUI: High Temperature Thermal Conductivity Measurements on Lower Crustal and Upper Mantle Xenolith Samples and the Thermal Structure of Continental Lithosphere

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This grant supports the development of a new method to measure the thermal conductivities of poly-crystalline samples at elevated using a dual-laser technique. This technique will be applied to actual lower crustal and upper mantle rocks in the form of xenolith samples. Costs for the development of new experimental techniques will be kept to a minimum by performing the proposed research at Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia, where the resources and expertise of an Industrial Laser Research Unit, and a Lithospheric Modeling Unit with numerous well-characterized xenolith samples will be available to the project at no direct cost. At the successful completion of the project, the new technology gained will be technology gained will be transferred to the US. where, additional funding, it will become the basis on an ongoing undergraduate research effort to characterize thermal properties of lithospheric materials.