Equation of State Measurements on Molten Silicates

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Thermodynamic and Kinematic aspects of the formation and transport of silicate liquids in the Earth's deep interior are critically dependent on the equations of state of both the liquid and solid components. The range of liquid silicate compositions that have been studied at significantly high pressures is currently too narrow to allow quantitative evaluation of petrologic theories without also including many rather speculative assumptions. Additionally, the thermal part of the liquid equations of state is almost completely unconstrained by existing experimental data. The PI will conduct new molten silicate compression studies using the new 80 mm shock wave facility at the University of Chicago. New target designs and instrumentation strategies will be developed to achieve an order of magnitude improvement in precision. These changes will eliminate subjective aspects of the data analysis, and will greatly facilitate the determination of the thermal part of the Hugoniot equation of state.