The Mantle Processes Group spent 10 days in southwest Oregon and northern California for fieldwork in the Josephine Peridotite and Trinity Ophiolite. Colleagues from Brown University, Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory, University of Auckland, and University of Oregon joined us for parts of the trip. It was good to be back in the mantle!
Katie Kumamoto has joined Lars Hansen’s group at Oxford University as an NSF Postdoctoral Fellow. She will be working on the contributions of composition and length-scale to the peak strength of the lithosphere.
Kuan-Yu Lin has joined the Mantle Processes Group! Kuan-Yu completed his B.S. at National Cheng Kung University with a double major in Earth Sciences and Chemistry. He then completed his M.S. in Geosciences at National Taiwan University, with a thesis on the geochemistry of peridotites from ophiolites in Turkey.
Suzanne Birner is now an assistant professor at Berea College, where she is establishing a Geology program, beginning with the development of a new minor.
Melinda Bahruth has joined the Mantle Processes Group to work on deformed rocks from oceanic transform faults. Mindy completed her B.S. in Geology at Wichita State University and has been awarded a Graduate Scholars Fellowship by the University of Delaware.
Suzanne Birner and Katie Kumamoto graduated this weekend!
Suzanne Birner’s article on mantle oxygen fugacity is now published in Earth and Planetary Science Letters. In this contribution, we show a broad congruence in the oxygen fugacity recorded in basalts and in peridotites from the Southwest Indian Ridge. While the two proxies for fugacity are in overall agreement, peridotites also indicate local redox heterogeneity. […]
Suzanne Birner successfully defended her PhD thesis, “Variations in the Oxygen Fugacity of the Upper Mantle“. Congratulations Dr. Birner!
Katie Kumamoto successfully defended her PhD thesis, “Exploring the Rheological Properties of the Upper Mantle: From the Field to the Laboratory”. Congratulations Dr. Kumamoto!
Research by Katie Kumamoto, Jessica Warren, and colleagues on the strength of olivine has been published in Science Advances. Our research suggests that tectonic plates are weaker than previously thought due to a size effect in olivine, the most abundant mineral in the Earth’s mantle. The article is summarized by Karen Roberts in this UDaily […]