High-Pressure Deformation Techniques in Experimental Geophysics

Abstract

Deformation processes have extrordinary importance for Geosciences. Mountainbuilding, i.e. orogenesis, slab subduction, continent-continent collision and penetration of the Earth’s mantle transition zone are examples of such processes. There is also a strong correlation between mineral content, phase transitions and structural properties of natural rocks. Ductile rock deformation is a typical property for Earth’s mantle conditions. Nevertheless most of experimental rock deformation was conducted under crustal conditions in the past. So, it was a revolutionary event when the first Deformation-DIA was introduced about a decade ago. Today this technique is indispensable not only for rock deformation under unextrapolated Earth’s mantle conditions but also for attenuation measurements in the seismic frequency range and attaining of lower mantle conditions in Large Volume Presses. In principle all these techniques require the installation of the high pressure device at a 3rd generation light source.