New paper on reactive melt migration

A new paper co-authored by Matej Pec, Ben Holtzman, Mark Zimmerman and David Kohlstedt on “The Influence of Lithology on Reactive Melt Flow Channelization” is published in GGG. We conducted a series of Darcy-flow type experiments at high pressures and temperatures and observed how feedback between reaction and melt flow lead to the development of high permeability channels. This process is thought to be important for melt extraction from the Earth’s mantle. Check it out! Below is a reconstruction of these channels from 3D tomography images.

12.DTE MITx on-line learning module

This semester we used for the first time an on-line learning module developed in collaboration with MITx and Alejandra Quintanilla Terminel in the class 12.203/205 Mechanics of Earth. This on-line module will serve as a nucleus on which we will build a MOOC focused on rheology and experimental rock deformation in the future. Attached is a short intro video:

Peč Lab at AGU 2019

Come see the Peč Lab’s work on display at this year’s AGU in San Francisco!

Thursday, Dec. 12

8:00 – 12:20 Cailey and Matěj will present a poster, “Deep-crustal Deformation: An Experimental and EBSD-based Study of Amphibole’s Seismic Anisotropy”(S41D-0547)

13:40 – 18:00 Cailey and Matěj will present a poster,  “Experimental investigation of amphibole rheology and deformation mechanisms at deep crustal conditions” (T43D-0457)

13:40 – 18:00 Hamed, Uli, and Matěj will present a poster, “Developing an ultrasound probe array for a high pressure-high temperature solid medium deformation apparatus” (T43D-0456)

17:00 – 17:15: Cailey will present an invited talk, “Seismic Observations of Processes in Collisional Continental Lithosphere: Rheological Changes, Phase Changes, and Deformation” (T44B-05)

 

Friday, Dec. 13

8:00 – 12:20 Cassandra and Matěj will present a poster, “Deformation of Partially Molten Rocks at Lithospheric Temperatures and Pressures,” (MR51B-0045)

8:00 – 12:20 Hongyu and Matěj will present a poster,  “Linear Viscous Flow of Nanocrystalline Fault Rocks at 300 – 500˚C” (MR51B-0048)

13:40 – 18:00 Cailey will present a poster,  “On-Ramps to More Effective Teaching: Quick-Start Guides to Strategies for Actively Engaging Students in The Classroom to Improve Learning”(ED53D-0876)

Visiting ERI Tokyo

Cassandra and Matej are visiting Take Hiraga’s lab at the Earthquake Research Institute in Tokyo. Cassandra is learning how to sinter powders to form textually equilibrated partially molten rocks from Koizumi-san. This visit is generously supported by the MISTI Ulvac-Hyashi fund.

Take demonstrates one of his 1 atm machines
Take’s secret deformation apparatus for research on friction…

New paper on melt segregation!

A new paper co-authored by Alejandra Quintanilla Terminel, Amanda Dillman, Matej Pec, Garrett Diedrich and David Kohlstedt entitled “Radial melt segregation during extrusion of partially molten rocks” just got published . We extruded partially molten rocks through a narrow channel approximating pipe-flow and observed how melt segregates close to the channel wall as predicted by the two-phase flow theory with viscous anisotropy. Check out the results here.

Yuval Boneh from Ben-Gurion University is Visiting

Assistant professor Yuval Boneh from Ben-Gurion University in Israel is visiting our lab to learn more about our tri-axial deformation apparatus and  te perform some experiments on the rheology of the subducting slabs. Yuvals stay is funded through MISTI-Israel awarded to Yuval and Matej. We are looking forward to a fruitful collaboration!