Geophysical measurements and experimental petrology

Abstract

Experimental petrology is the materials science of geophysical sciences. When packages of rock material move through the earth, as they do according to recent earth models, they undergo phase transitions and changes in state, but they do not necessarily maintain a condition of thermodynamic equilibrium. Geophysical measurements are interpreted in terms of the properties of materials in different volumes within the earth ; petrological studies provide clues about the materials involved ; and the results of experimental petrology show the equilibrium state of each material as a function of pressure and temperature. For the satisfactory correlation of geophysical measurements with the results of experimental petrology, we have to map the fields on phase diagrams for materials in terms of physical properties, and to determine the kinetics of the mineralogical changes and phase transitions involved. The subject of this symposium is evaluation of the present state of this correlation in the context of plate tectonics.

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