Earth Materials are

1
Earth Materials are

• The key to understanding the Earth
• Dirty
• (often) Unstable

2
Materials _at_ Earth Sciences
John Brodholt Dario Alfe Ian Wood
Peter Sammonds Philip Meredith David Dobson
Lidunka Vocadlo Domonic Fortes
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Facilities-High Pressure

• Deformation equipment covering
• 230-2000K, 1atmosphere-25GPa
• Cold-room complex for studies of ice.
• Multi-anvil and diamond cell presses for static
  studies.
• In situ analytical facilities impedance bridges,
  AE monitoring, P- and S-wave velocity
  measurements. Presses compatible with neutron
  spallation and synchrotron facilities.

4
Facilities-Analytical

• PANalytical Xpert-Pro Powder
• non-ambient stages for 170-2000K
• Huber 4-circle single-crystal diffractometer
• JEOL analytical SEM with variable pressure
  deformation stage EBSD, EDX
• JEOL 6-crystal WDX electron-probe
• LA-ICPMS

5
Facilities-Computational

• High performance computing via the UK Mineral
  Physics Consortium
• Ab initio MD implemented in VASP
• Mixed functionals implemented in
• Classical potentials for extended systems (planar
  and line defects)

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Brittle failure in rocks
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Ductile deformation in rocks
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Antarctic Ice Sheet

• Firn
• Bubbly Ice
• Deep-laid
• Clathrate

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Thermal Expansion of Epsomite
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Synthesis of experiments and computations into
planetary models e.g. Ganymede