W. van Westrenen

Bio: W. van Westrenen is an academic researcher from Carnegie Institution for Science. The author has contributed to research in topics: Internal pressure & Spinel. The author has an hindex of 2, co-authored 3 publications receiving 368 citations. Previous affiliations of W. van Westrenen include ETH Zurich.

Experimentally determined postspinel transformation boundary in Mg2SiO4 using MgO as an internal pressure standard and its geophysical implications

Abstract: [1] We have determined the postspinel transformation boundary in Mg2SiO4 by combining quench technique with in situ pressure measurements, using multiple internal pressure standards including Au, MgO, and Pt. The experimentally determined boundary is in general agreement with previous in situ measurements in which the Au scale of Anderson et al. [1989] was used to calculate pressure: Using this pressure scale, it occurs at significantly lower pressures compared to that corresponding to the 660-km seismic discontinuity. In this study, we also report new experimental data on the transformation boundary determined using MgO as an internal standard. The results show that the transition boundary is located at pressures close to the 660-km discontinuity using the MgO pressure scale of Speziale et al. [2001] and can be represented by a linear equation, P(GPa) = 25.12 − 0.0013T(°C). The Clapeyron slope for the postspinel transition boundary is precisely determined and is significantly less negative than previous estimates. Our results, based on the MgO pressure scale, support the conventional hypothesis that the postspinel transformation is responsible for the observed 660-km seismic discontinuity.

An improved and extended internally consistent thermodynamic dataset for phases of petrological interest, involving a new equation of state for solids

Abstract: The thermodynamic properties of 254 end-members, including 210 mineral end-members, 18 silicate liquid end-members and 26 aqueous fluid species are presented in a revised and updated internally consistent thermodynamic data set. The PVT properties of the data set phases are now based on a modified Tait equation of state (EOS) for the solids and the Pitzer & Sterner (1995) equation for gaseous components. Thermal expansion and compressibility are linked within the modified Tait EOS (TEOS) by a thermal pressure formulation using an Einstein temperature to model the temperature dependence of both the thermal expansion and bulk modulus in a consistent way. The new EOS has led to improved fitting of the phase equilibrium experiments. Many new end-members have been added, including several deep mantle phases and, for the first time, sulphur-bearing minerals. Silicate liquid end-members are in good agreement with both phase equilibrium experiments and measured heat of melting. The new dataset considerably enhances the capabilities for thermodynamic calculation on rocks, melts and aqueous fluids under crustal to deep mantle conditions. Implementations are already available in thermocalc to take advantage of the new data set and its methodologies, as illustrated by example calculations on sapphirine-bearing equilibria, sulphur-bearing equilibria and calculations to 300 kbar and 2000 °C to extend to lower mantle conditions.

Toward an internally consistent pressure scale.

Abstract: Our ability to interpret seismic observations including the seismic discontinuities and the density and velocity profiles in the earth's interior is critically dependent on the accuracy of pressure measurements up to 364 GPa at high temperature. Pressure scales based on the reduced shock-wave equations of state alone may predict pressure variations up to 7% in the megabar pressure range at room temperature and even higher percentage at high temperature, leading to large uncertainties in understanding the nature of the seismic discontinuities and chemical composition of the earth's interior. Here, we report compression data of gold (Au), platinum (Pt), the NaCl-B2 phase, and solid neon (Ne) at 300 K and high temperatures up to megabar pressures. Combined with existing experimental data, the compression data were used to establish internally consistent thermal equations of state of Au, Pt, NaCl-B2, and solid Ne. The internally consistent pressure scales provide a tractable, accurate baseline for comparing high pressure-temperature experimental data with theoretical calculations and the seismic observations, thereby advancing our understanding fundamental high-pressure phenomena and the chemistry and physics of the earth's interior.

Timing, scale and mechanism of the destruction of the North China Craton

Abstract: The North China Craton (NCC) is a classical example of ancient destroyed cratons. Since the initiation of the North China Craton Destruction Project by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, numerous studies have been conducted on the timing, scale, and mechanism of this destruction through combined interdisciplinary research. Available data suggest that the destruction occurred mainly in the eastern NCC, whereas the western NCC was only locally modified. The sedimentation, magmatic activities and structural deformation after cratonization at ~1.8 Ga indicate that the NCC destruction took place in the Mesozoic with a peak age of ca 125 Ma. A global comparison suggests that most cratons on Earth are not destroyed, although they have commonly experienced lithospheric thinning; destruction is likely to occur only when the craton has been disturbed by oceanic subduction. The destruction of the NCC was coincident with globally active plate tectonics and high mantle temperatures during the Cretaceous. The subducted Pacific slab destabilized mantle convection beneath the eastern NCC, which resulted in cratonic destruction in the eastern NCC. Delamination and/or thermal-mechanical-chemical erosion resulted from the destabilization of mantle convection.

Trace element partitioning between mica- and amphibole-bearing garnet lherzolite and hydrous basanitic melt : 1. Experimental results and the investigation of controls on partitioning behaviour

Abstract: Thirty five minor and trace elements (Li, Be, B, Sc, Cu, Zn, Ga, Ge, As, Rb, Nb, Mo, Ag, Cd, In, Sn, Sb, Cs, Ba, La, Ce, Nd, Sm, Tb, Ho, Tm, Lu, Hf, Ta, W, Tl, Pb, Bi, Th and U) in experimentally produced near-liquidus phases, from a primitive nelpheline basanite from Bow Hill in Tasmania (Australia), were analysed by LAM ICP-MS. A number of halogens (F, Cl and I) were also analysed by electron microprobe. The analyses were used to determine mineral/melt partition coefficients for mica, amphibole, garnet, clinopyroxene, orthopyroxene and olivine for conditions close to multiple saturation of the basanite liquidus with garnet lherzolite (approximately 2.6 GPa and 1,200°C with 7.5 wt% of added H2O). A broader range of conditions was also investigated from 1.0 GPa and 1,025°C to 3.5 GPa and 1,190°C with 5–10 wt% of added H2O. The scope and comprehensiveness of the data allow them to be used for two purposes, these include the following: an investigation of some of the controlling influences on partition coefficients; and the compilation of a set partition coefficients that are directly relevant to the formation of the Bow Hill basanite magma by partial melting of mantle peridotite. Considering clinopyroxene, the mineral phase for which the most data were obtained, systematic correlations were found between pressure and temperature, mineral composition, cation radius and valence, and ΔGcoulb (the coulombic potential energy produced by substituting a cation of mismatched valence into a crystallographic site). ΔGcoulb is distinctly different for different crystallographic sites, including the M2 and M1 sites in clinopyroxene. These differences can be modelled as a function of variations in optimum valence (expressed as 1 sigma standard deviations) within individual M1 and M2 site populations.

Thermodynamics of mantle minerals - II. Phase equilibria

Abstract: P>We complete the development and description of a thermodynamic method for the computation of phase equilibria and physical properties of multiphase mantle assemblages. Our previous paper focused on the computation of physical properties. In this paper, our focus shifts to the phase equilibria. We further develop our theory to specify the ideal and excess contributions to solution properties and derive properties of multiphase assemblages. We discuss our global inversion strategy for determining the values of the free parameters in our theory and compare inverted parameter values with expectations based on scaling arguments. Comparisons between our method and experimental phase equilibria data encompass the pressure-temperature regime of Earth's mantle. Finally, we present applications of our method that illustrate how it may be used to explore the origins of mantle structure and mantle dynamics. Continuing rapid advances in experimental and theoretical petrology and mineral physics have motivated an expansion of the scope of our model via the addition of several new phases, and of the soda component: an appendix lists all parameters in our model and references to the experimental and theoretical studies that constrain them. Our algorithm for global minimization of the Gibbs free energy is embodied in a code called HeFESTo, and is detailed in a second appendix.