U.S.-Australia Cooperative Research: High Temperature Wave Speeds of Mantle Minerals and Their Seismological Implications

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0233849LiebermannThis award facilitates collaboration in geophysics research between two world class research groups led by Professor Robert Liebermann of Stony Brook University and Professor Ian Jackson of the Australian National University in Canberra, Australia. In recent years the two groups have separately developed novel experimental techniques for measuring the temperature dependence of elastic wave speeds in laboratory prepared specimens that accurately represent the minerals of the earth's transition zone, 400 to 700 km below the surface. They plan to use these to study the mixed pressure-temperature dependence of wave speeds in fabricated materials exposed to similar temperature regimes but very different pressure regimes.The interpretation of seismological models for the earth's interior in terms of chemical composition, mineralogy and temperature requires laboratory-derived information concerning the elastic wave speeds of the relevant minerals and also their pressure and temperature dependence. This collaboration will advance the understanding of these relations through the parallel use of various complementary techniques. The collaboration will also provide international experience for several early career/postdoctoral scientists and graduate students, including one from a historically black university.Increased knowledge of pressure-temperature dependence will improve the inference of chemical composition, mineralogical make-up and temperature variations within the earth's mantle