Publications related to Primordial metallic melt in the deep mantle

New tools for phase segmentation and denoising of analytical STEM data for enhanced chemical sensitivity, applied to Earth mantle research

This thesis is dedicated to developing innovative methodologies that improve elemental quantification in scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) using energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDXS). The primary motivation stems from a geochemistry pr ...

EPFL2023

Composition and Pressure Effects on Partitioning of Ferrous Iron in Iron-Rich Lower Mantle Heterogeneities

Philippe Gillet, Marco Cantoni, James Badro, Susannah McGregor Dorfman, Farhang Nabiei, Charles-Edouard Boukaré

Both seismic observations of dense low shear velocity regions and models of magma ocean crystallization and mantle dynamics support enrichment of iron in Earth’s lowermost mantle. Physical properties of iron-rich lower mantle heterogeneities in the modern ...

2021

Investigating Magma Ocean Solidification on Earth Through Laser‐Heated Diamond Anvil Cell Experiments

Philippe Gillet, Cécile Hébert, Marco Cantoni, James Badro, Farhang Nabiei, Charles-Edouard Boukaré

We carried out a series of silicate fractional crystallization experiments at lower mantle pressures using the laser-heated diamond anvil cell. Phase relations and the compositional evolution of the cotectic melt and equilibrium solids along the liquid lin ...

2021

The Effects of Planetary and Stellar Parameters on Brittle Lithospheric Thickness

Marie Estelle Solange Violay, Michael Heap

The thicknesss of the brittle lithosphere—the outer portion of a planetary body that fails via fracturing— plays a key role in the geological processes of that body. The properties of both a planet and its host star can influence that thickness, and the po ...

2021

Origin of the Co‐Seismic Variations of Elastic Properties in the Crust: Insight From the Laboratory

Marie Estelle Solange Violay, François Xavier Thibault Passelègue, Mateo Alejandro Acosta, Federica Paglialunga

Seismological observations highlighted that earthquakes are often followed by changes in elastic properties around the fault zone. Here, we studied the origin of these variations using stick-slip experiments on saw-cut granite samples presenting different ...

2021

Blocked radiative heat transport in the hot pyrolitic lower mantle

James Badro, Farhang Nabiei, Hélène Marie Piet

The heat flux across the core-mantle boundary (Q(CMB)) is the key parameter to understand the Earth's thermal history and evolution. Mineralogical constraints of the Q(CMB) require deciphering contributions of the lattice and radiative components to the th ...

ELSEVIER2020

Effects of composition and pressure on electronic states of iron in bridgmanite

Arnaud Magrez, Philippe Gillet, Susannah McGregor Dorfman

Electronic states of iron in the lower mantle's dominant mineral, (Mg,Fe,Al)(Fe,Al,Si)O-3 bridgmanite, control physical properties of the mantle including density, elasticity, and electrical and thermal conductivity. However, the determination of electroni ...

MINERALOGICAL SOC AMER2020

PyFrac: A planar 3D hydraulic fracture simulator

Brice Tanguy Alphonse Lecampion, Haseeb Zia

Fluid driven fractures propagate in the upper earth crust either naturally or in response to engineeredfluid injections. The quantitative prediction of their evolution is critical in order to better understandtheir dynamics as well as to optimize their cre ...

2020

Taking the pulse of volcanic eruptions using plagioclase glomerocrysts

Anders Meibom, Stéphane Laurent Escrig, Anders McCarthy, Pierre Vonlanthen

Crystallization timescales in subvolcanic systems and the consequences of interaction between ascending magmas and gases remain largely unconstrained, as do links between these processes and monitoring signals at restless volcanoes. We apply diffusion chro ...

ELSEVIER2020

Fault Stability Across the Seismogenic Zone

François Xavier Thibault Passelègue

Across the seismogenic zone, the transition from brittle to plastic deformation corresponds to a semibrittle regime where brittle fracturing and plastic flow coexist at high strength conditions. Thorough experimental investigations on brittle-plastic trans ...

AMER GEOPHYSICAL UNION2020