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Research Interests
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My research themes include - •
Experimental Petrology
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Deep Volatile Cycle and Mantle Melting
Exchange
of volatiles such as carbon and hydrogen between different terrestrial
reservoirs is an important step in the global carbon and water cycle,
and has a key influence on the habitability of our planet. Though
the terms ‘carbon cycle’ and ‘water cycle’
mostly refer to exchange of the respective volatiles between the
near-surface reservoirs such as atmosphere and biosphere, oceans,
and soils that operates on human time scales (short-term C and H2O
cycle), the estimated total amount of carbon and/ or water stored
in the Earth’s mantle, core, and crustal rocks is estimated
to be significant. Thus, on time scales of millions of years, the
exchange of C-O-H volatiles between deep Earth and near surface
reservoirs (long-term C and H2O
cycle) becomes important. C-O-H volatiles are of interest because
of their effects on melting relationships, on transport of major
to trace elements, and on the rheological and other physical properties
of the mantle. CO2-H2O
rich magmas play a significant role in releasing carbon and hydrogen
from the mantle to the Earth’s surface, but the knowledge
about the depth of formation or the compositions of these melts
under mantle conditions is far from being complete. |
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My
research, in collaboration with Marc
Hirschmann, Tony
Withers at University of Minnesota, along with undergraduate
students Neil Smith, Kate Stalker, and Nikki Dellas provides new
insight into partial melting processes of Earth's upper mantle lithologies
in the presence of CO2. Click
here to see some of our published works on this topic. |
Genesis of Ocean Island Basalts
Intra
plate volcanic rocks from ocean islands (e.g., Hawaii, Iceland,
Cape Verde, Reunion) provide a window to the Earth's deep interior.
Their chemistry reflects variation in mantle sources and processes
through both time and space. Integration of isotopic and trace element
chemistry of ocean island basalts with their major element compositions
is necessary to understand the physical nature of the mantle heterogeneities.
I am interested in understanding the major element compositions
of various flavors of ocean island basalts and what they tell us
about the physical nature of their source compositions and the time-integrated
history. I combine both experiments and natural observations to
decipher possible nature of intraplate basalt source regions in
general and those for ocean island basalts in partiular. Click
here to see some of our publications on this topic. |
Core-Mantle Differentiation and Exchange - Behavior and Influence of Light Elements
A
new direction I am exploring in collaboration with Dave
Walker and students Antonio Buono and Geoff Whelan at Columbia
University, and Mike
Walter and graduate student Oliver Lord at Bristol University
is the study related to metallic cores of planetary bodies. I am
interested in the process of core seggregation during early planetary
differentiation and core-mantle exchange relevant to the present
day planetary interiors. A particular emphasis is the role of various
light elements in metal-silicate equilibria and in the composition
and evolution of metallic cores. |