Experimental studies of texture development in igneous rocks

岩石是我们星球的基石，所有岩石中矿物之间的关系提供了它们历史的记录，从而揭示了地球演化的重要线索。 对火山岩及其结构的实地研究导致了关于火山爆发历史和原因的假说的发展。 纹理形成的实验研究，使我们能够测试这些想法，更重要的是把时间限制纹理的发展，这将有助于开发预测模型的喷发。 我的研究重点是阅读火成岩的历史，从它们的纹理;特别是，我专注于使用实验来模拟纹理的发展，并将结果应用于了解岩浆在火山下面的管道系统中的行为。特别是，我专注于了解岩浆进入岩浆房的速度，以及它在喷发前在这些岩浆房中停留的时间长度。 这些实验将在温度可达1600摄氏度的熔炉和能够产生相当于地球内部120公里深处的压力和温度条件的高压装置中进行。 我们将进行几种不同类型的实验，以研究矿物如何与地幔和地壳内的岩浆反应并溶解成岩浆。 我们还将用真实的和模拟岩浆进行实验，研究岩浆如何侵入潮湿的沉积物，以及这种侵入如何导致大规模的火山爆发。 NSERC的资金将在未来五年内支持三名研究生和五名本科生的研究项目。

Rocks are the building blocks of our planet and the relationships between the minerals in all rocks provide a record of their history and thus reveal important clues about the earth's evolution.  Field studies of volcanic rocks and their textures lead to development of hypotheses about the history of and reasons for the eruption of volcanoes.  Experimental studies of texture formation allow us to test these ideas and more importantly to place time constraints on texture development, that will aid in developing predictive models for eruptions.   My research focuses on reading the history of igneous rocks from their textures; in particular, I focus on using experiments to simulate texture development and apply the results to understanding the behaviour of magma in the plumbing systems that lie below volcanoes. In particular, I focus on understanding the rate at which magma moves into magma chambers and the length of time it remains in these chambers prior to its eruption.   The experiments will be carried out in furnaces capable of reaching temperatures up to 1600 celcius and in high pressure apparatus capable of generating pressure and temperature conditions equivalent to depths of 120 km within the earth.  We will perform several different types of experiment to examine how minerals react with and dissolve into magma within the earth's mantle and crust.  We will also perform experiments with real and analogue magmas that examine how magma is intruded into wet sediments and how such intrusions can lead to large scale volcanic explosions.  Funding from NSERC will support research projects for three graduate students and five undergraduate students over the next five years.