Tracing planetary differentiation with experimental petrology
| Dates: | 25 September 2019 |
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| Times: | 13:00 - 14:00 |
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| What is it: | Seminar |
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| Organiser: | Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences |
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| Who is it for: | University staff, Adults, Alumni, Current University students, General public |
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| Speaker: | Dr Eleanor Jennings, |
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Planetary accretion and core formation are thought to have been simultaneous processes, and both left distinctive imprints on the composition of the silicate portions of planets. To aid us in interpreting these signals, experiments are performed to determine how a variety of elements distribute themselves between molten silicate and molten iron. For different elements, this partitioning behaviour varies as a function of temperature, pressure, silicate and metal compositions, and oxygen fugacity. By understanding the behaviour of a wide variety of elements with subtly different dependencies, we could theoretically solve for the sequence of events that formed the inner planets and their cores. I will present highlights from a variety of experimental projects that I have been involved in that use different elements and experimental and analytical approaches, and explain how these fit into the wider goal of modelling planetary formation, and in particular what they tell us about the processes of Earth's formation.
Speaker
Dr Eleanor Jennings,
Organisation: Birbeck University, London
Travel and Contact Information
Find event
G.03
Williamson Building
Manchester
