Recent development of experimental techniques for high-pressure mineral physics under simulated mantle conditions

Abstract

The Earth's mantle has a mass of about 4.08×10²¹ ton and represents 68% of the total mass of the Earth. The Earth's mantle is only accessible by indirect methods, such as seismological studies. The interpretation of seismic data from the Earth's deep interior requires measurements of the physical properties of Earth materials under experimental simulated mantle conditions. MAX80, maximum conditions of about 12 GPa/2000 K, and the sister apparatus MAX200x, designed to reach 25 GPa and 2400 K, are installed at HASYLAB beamlines. Both apparatus are equipped for XRD with a Ge-solid-state detector, for transient ultrasonic interferometry, as well as with a radiography system to measure the change of volume and shape of the sample under in situ conditions. Some recent results on the elastic wave velocities at the non-quenchable high-P–low-P clinoenstatite transition and on some innovative experiments to improve the potentials of multi-anvil apparatus in terms of maximum pressure are presented.

Keywords:

• Multi-anvil apparatus
• DIA
• Opposed-anvil third stage
• Ultrasonic interferometry
• X-ray diffraction
• X-radiography