Courses:

Phase Transitions in the Earth's Interior >> Content Detail



Syllabus



Syllabus



Prerequisite


Permission of instructor



Overview


Phase transitions in Earth materials at high pressures and temperatures cause the seismic discontinuities and affect the convections in the Earth's interior. On the other hand, they enable us to constrain temperature and chemical compositions in the Earth's interior. However, among many known phase transitions in mineral physics, only a few have been investigated in seismology and geodynamics. This course reviews important papers about phase transitions in mantle and core materials.

The topics include:

  • Olivine-wadsleyite-ringwoodite, post-spinel, post-garnet, post-ilmenite, post-perovskite, coesite-stishovite, post-stishovite, and tetragonal-cubic Ca-perovskite transitions
  • Phase transitions in Fe, Fe-Ni, Fe-S, Fe-Si, and Fe-O systems
  • Melting of silicates and iron alloys
  • Spin transitions in (Mg, Fe)SiO3 perovskite and magnesiowustite.

This course focuses on physical property changes, depth, and Clapeyron slopes of these transitions and implications for seismology and geodynamics.



Format


This course is structured as a series of student presentations based upon the course topics. Two students give presentations each week. See the assignments section.



Grading


The course grade is based upon class participation, discussions and presentations.


 








© 2010-2021 OpenCollege.com, All Rights Reserved.
Open College is a service mark of AmeriCareers LLC.