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Published 1963 | public
Book Section - Chapter

Applications of High Pressure Studies to the Earth Sciences

Abstract

The earth is a giant high pressure laboratory, so it is inevitable that in any book dealing with high pressure chemistry and physics attention should eventually be focused upon the earth. From the surface of the earth to its centre, the pressure increases from 1 bar to 3 640 kb, and the temperature increases simultaneously. This chapter is concerned only with the outer part of the earth, to a depth of approximately 1 000 km, comprising the crust and the upper mantle. The preceding chapters have been concerned largely with the effects of high pressures on homogeneous systems consisting of solids, of liquids, or of gases, but the important processes occurring in the outer part of the earth usually involve heterogeneous equilibria. ·within the earth's mantle, solid-solid phase changes may account for seismic and density discontinuities. Many magmas are believed to originate in the mantle, and their development involves solid-liquid, and perhaps solid-liquid-vapour reactions. Within the earth's crust, solid-liquid-vapour, solid-solid, and solid-vapour equilibria are involved in igneous and metamorphic processes. The deformation and folding of rocks during orogeny is a mechanical process, but interstitial gases or solutions may have a profound effect.

Additional Information

© 1963 Academic Press. Mineral Industries Experiment Station Contribution No. 62-20. I wish to acknowledge gratefully the time, attention, and assistance provided by many colleagues in the College of Mineral Industries, The Pennsylvania State University, and elsewhere, in connection with various parts of this chapter. Specific thanks are due to: H. S. Yoder for providing Fig. 21 before its publication; D. L. Hamilton for providing unpublished data used in Section IV, J; F. Dachille for providing diagrams and critical comments for Section V, A; O. F. Tuttle and W. C. Luth for providing unpublished data used in Section VI, B; I. S. E. Carmichael and W. S. Mackenzie for providing the unpublished manuscript discussed in Section VI, C; R. F. Fudali for providing the unpublished manuscript discussed in Section VI, C; R. H. Jahns for providing Fig. 39, previously unpublished, and for critical comments on Section VI, D.

Additional details

Created:
August 22, 2023
Modified:
October 17, 2023