CAREER: Experimental Investigation of the Transport Properties of Sulfide Melts at Upper Mantle Conditions

这个CAREER奖项是作为一项实验研究设计的，旨在了解熔融铁硫化物如何在地球内部渗透。熔融铁硫化物是地球内部重要的地球化学和地球物理成分。它们在地球内部的流动性塑造了地球的结构和动力学，因此，研究硫化物在深处的行为是了解地球演化的关键。将在与地球上地幔有关的各种压力和温度条件下对硫化铁熔体进行电导率和粘度这两种特性的测量。当结合地球物理观测，这些结果有可能检测到硫化物熔体的存在下，在深度和估计其流动性在小（毫米）和大（公里）的规模，这可能会导致重新解释的一些地球物理异常测量地球表面。实验数据集也将与其他类地行星的内部有关。研究成果将与一项广泛的教育计划相结合，该计划包括帮助圣地亚哥联合学区的K-12学校教师将地球科学研究纳入他们的课程。研究人员和她的团队将与斯克里普斯海洋学研究所（SIO）和圣地亚哥联合学区（SDUSD）的科学教育领导者合作，为教师设计围绕该项目实验结果的培训研讨会。几个本科生和研究生，以及一个博士后研究人员将支持作为这个项目的一部分。硫化物熔体的互连性和流动性似乎高度依赖于熔体相的组成以及氧化还原条件，这表明有一个根本需要研究熔体化学和氧化还原条件对硫化物熔体的输运性质的影响。高压和高温实验将在UCSD-SIO和APS-GSECARS进行，压力高达10 GPa，温度高达1700°C。重点将放在两个参数影响硫化物熔体的流动性：化学和氧化还原条件。样品成分将在Fe-S-O-Ni-Cu系统中，氧逸度范围为IW-1至IW+4，对应于铁-钨铁矿（IW）氧化还原缓冲液。实验结果将被应用到不同的构造背景下，化学和氧化还原条件增强硫化物熔体的互连性和地球物理（地震，电磁）观测表明异常在不同深度的上地幔。硫化物化合物迁移性质的研究包括矿物物理学和矿物物理学，并与经济地质学有关（例如，与矿石存款形成有关的金属迁移），行星科学（例如，金属-硅酸盐差异化），以及金属工业（例如，金属合金的强度和塑性）。将围绕该项目的科学成果设计的教育倡议支持将下一代地球科学标准纳入K-12级教学实践的努力。这项与科学教育专家的新颖合作将对SDUSD学生的地球科学教育产生直接影响。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This CAREER award is designed as an experimental study to understand how molten iron sulfides percolate inside the Earth. Molten iron sulfides are crucial geochemical and geophysical components of our planet's interior. Their mobility inside the planet has shaped the structure and dynamics of the Earth, and thus, studying the behavior of sulfides at depth is key to understanding the Earth's evolution. The measurements of two properties, electrical conductivity and viscosity, will be conducted on iron sulfide melts over a wide range of pressure and temperature conditions that are relevant to the Earth's upper mantle. When combined with geophysical observations, these results have the potential to detect the presence of sulfide melts at depth and estimate their mobility at small (mm) and large (km) scales, which may lead to the reinterpretation of some geophysical anomalies that are measured on the Earth's surface. The experimental data set will also be relevant to the interior of other terrestrial planets. The research outcomes will be integrated with an extensive education initiative that consists of helping K-12 schoolteachers at the San Diego Unified School District promote earth science research into their courses. The investigator and her group will be working with science education leaders at Scripps Institute of Oceanography (SIO) and San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) to design training workshops for the teachers around the experimental results from this project. Several undergraduate and graduate students, as well as one postdoc researcher will be supported as part of this project.The interconnectivity and mobility of sulfide melts seem to depend highly on the composition of the melt phase as well as on redox conditions, suggesting that there is a fundamental need to study the effect of melt chemistry and redox conditions on the transport properties of sulfide melts. High-pressure and high-temperature experiments will be conducted up to 10 GPa and up to 1700°C at UCSD-SIO and APS-GSECARS. Emphasis will be placed on two parameters affecting sulfide melts' mobility: chemistry and redox conditions. Sample compositions will be in the Fe-S-O-Ni-Cu system and oxygen fugacity will range from IW-1 to IW+4, corresponding to the Iron-Wüstite (IW) redox buffer. Experimental results will be applied to different tectonic contexts where the chemistry and redox conditions enhance sulfide melt interconnectivity and where geophysical (seismic, electromagnetic) observations indicate anomalies at different depths in the upper mantle. This investigation of the transport properties of sulfide compounds encompasses mineral physics and geophysics, and is relevant to economic geology (e.g., metal transport related to ore deposit formation), planetary science (e.g., metal-silicate differentiation), as well as metal industry (e.g., strength and plasticity of metal alloys). The education initiative that will be designed around the scientific outcomes of the project supports efforts that integrate next generation earth science standards into instructional practices at the K-12 level. This novel collaboration with science education specialists will have direct impact on the earth science education of SDUSD students.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.