IGPP is pleased to invite you to join its Fall 2023 Seminar Series presentation featuring UCLA's Lars Stixrude.
IGPP is pleased to invite you to join its Seminar Series presentation featuring UCLA's Lars Stixrude. Dr. Lars Stixrude's talk, "Molten Rock at Extreme Conditions and the Magma Ocean" will occur at 12pm October 10, 2023.
Time: 12:00 pm, Pacific Time
Location: Munk Conference Room and Zoom https://ucsd.zoom.us/j/93654851631?pwd=eHBzVkRxN3ZZZllxNHlmWXdRZjdEUT09 (password: igpp)
Abstract: The Earth may have begun in a completely molten state, a global magma ocean, with silicate liquid extending from the surface to the boundary with the iron-rich core at a pressure of 140 GPa, and temperature of more than 4000 K. The magma ocean may have left signatures in today’s Earth in various forms including a remainder of deep melt, chemical heterogeneity in the mantle, or paleomagnetic records. However, these signals are still uninterpretable because of a lack of basic knowledge of the behavior of liquid silicates at extreme conditions. To help answer fundamental questions, we have performed first principles quantum mechanical simulations in the range of pressure, temperature, and composition relevant to the early Earth. These simulations lend new insight into the thermal history of the magma ocean, crystal buoyancy and the vector of early mantle geochemical evolution, early reaction of the magma ocean with the underlying core, vaporization of the magma ocean at its surface, and the possibility of a silicate dynamo early in Earth’s history.