Publications related to Upper mantle

New tools for phase segmentation and denoising of analytical STEM data for enhanced chemical sensitivity, applied to Earth mantle research

This thesis is dedicated to developing innovative methodologies that improve elemental quantification in scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) using energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDXS). The primary motivation stems from a geochemistry pr ...

EPFL2023

Experimental investigation of hydraulic fracture growth in an anisotropic rock with pre-existing discontinuities under different propagation regimes

Brice Tanguy Alphonse Lecampion, Seyyedmaalek Momeni, Guanyi Lu

Laboratory experiments have been carried out to investigate the growth of hydraulic fracture (HF) in an anisotropic rock with pre-existing discontinuities such as bedding planes and veins. The experiments are designed in light of scaling relationships that ...

2022

Investigating Magma Ocean Solidification on Earth Through Laser‐Heated Diamond Anvil Cell Experiments

Philippe Gillet, Cécile Hébert, Marco Cantoni, James Badro, Farhang Nabiei, Charles-Edouard Boukaré

We carried out a series of silicate fractional crystallization experiments at lower mantle pressures using the laser-heated diamond anvil cell. Phase relations and the compositional evolution of the cotectic melt and equilibrium solids along the liquid lin ...

2021

Composition and Pressure Effects on Partitioning of Ferrous Iron in Iron-Rich Lower Mantle Heterogeneities

Philippe Gillet, Marco Cantoni, James Badro, Susannah McGregor Dorfman, Farhang Nabiei, Charles-Edouard Boukaré

Both seismic observations of dense low shear velocity regions and models of magma ocean crystallization and mantle dynamics support enrichment of iron in Earth’s lowermost mantle. Physical properties of iron-rich lower mantle heterogeneities in the modern ...

2021

Origin of the Co‐Seismic Variations of Elastic Properties in the Crust: Insight From the Laboratory

Marie Estelle Solange Violay, François Xavier Thibault Passelègue, Mateo Alejandro Acosta, Federica Paglialunga

Seismological observations highlighted that earthquakes are often followed by changes in elastic properties around the fault zone. Here, we studied the origin of these variations using stick-slip experiments on saw-cut granite samples presenting different ...

2021

The Effects of Planetary and Stellar Parameters on Brittle Lithospheric Thickness

Marie Estelle Solange Violay, Michael Heap

The thicknesss of the brittle lithosphere—the outer portion of a planetary body that fails via fracturing— plays a key role in the geological processes of that body. The properties of both a planet and its host star can influence that thickness, and the po ...

2021

On the effects of fluid pressure variations on rock-mass and fault mechanical behaviour

Corentin Jean-Marie Rémi Noël

In the past 20 years, the growing interest in deep geo-reservoirs for purposes such as carbon storage, waste water disposal, or geothermal energy exploitation have led to large-volume fluid injections into the upper continental crust. These fluid injection ...

EPFL2021

Blocked radiative heat transport in the hot pyrolitic lower mantle

James Badro, Farhang Nabiei, Hélène Marie Piet

The heat flux across the core-mantle boundary (Q(CMB)) is the key parameter to understand the Earth's thermal history and evolution. Mineralogical constraints of the Q(CMB) require deciphering contributions of the lattice and radiative components to the th ...

ELSEVIER2020

PyFrac: A planar 3D hydraulic fracture simulator

Brice Tanguy Alphonse Lecampion, Haseeb Zia

Fluid driven fractures propagate in the upper earth crust either naturally or in response to engineeredfluid injections. The quantitative prediction of their evolution is critical in order to better understandtheir dynamics as well as to optimize their cre ...

2020

Effects of composition and pressure on electronic states of iron in bridgmanite

Arnaud Magrez, Philippe Gillet, Susannah McGregor Dorfman

Electronic states of iron in the lower mantle's dominant mineral, (Mg,Fe,Al)(Fe,Al,Si)O-3 bridgmanite, control physical properties of the mantle including density, elasticity, and electrical and thermal conductivity. However, the determination of electroni ...

MINERALOGICAL SOC AMER2020

Fault Stability Across the Seismogenic Zone

François Xavier Thibault Passelègue

Across the seismogenic zone, the transition from brittle to plastic deformation corresponds to a semibrittle regime where brittle fracturing and plastic flow coexist at high strength conditions. Thorough experimental investigations on brittle-plastic trans ...

AMER GEOPHYSICAL UNION2020

The Impact of Diffusive Water Vapor Transport on Snow Profiles in Deep and Shallow Snow Covers and on Sea Ice

Michael Lehning, Varun Sharma, Adrien Michel, Mahdi Jafari, Margaux Caroline Patricia Couttet, Nander Wever, Isabelle Amandine Gouttevin

Water vapor transport has been highlighted as a critical process in Arctic snowpacks, shaping the snow cover structure in terms of density, thermal conductivity, and temperature profile among others. Here, we present an attempt to describe the thermally-in ...

2020

Ab Initio Molecular Dynamics Investigation of Molten Fe-Si-O in Earth's Core

James Badro

Silicon and oxygen are potential light elements in Earth's core because their stronger affinity to metal observed with increasing temperature posits that significant amounts of both can be incorporated into the core. It was proposed that an Fe-Si-O liquid ...

AMER GEOPHYSICAL UNION2019

Origin of High-Frequency Radiation During Laboratory Earthquakes

François Xavier Thibault Passelègue

We monitor dynamic rupture propagation during laboratory stick-slip experiments performed on saw-cut Westerly granite under upper crustal conditions (10-90 MPa). Spectral analysis of high-frequency acoustic waveforms provided evidence that energy radiation ...

AMER GEOPHYSICAL UNION2019

Can Precursory Moment Release Scale With Earthquake Magnitude? A View From the Laboratory

Marie Estelle Solange Violay, François Xavier Thibault Passelègue, Mateo Alejandro Acosta

Today, earthquake precursors remain debated. While precursory slow slip is an important feature of earthquake nucleation, foreshock sequences are not always observed, and their temporal evolution remains poorly constrained. We report on laboratory earthqua ...

2019

Investigating Earth's Formation History Through Copper and Sulfur Metal-Silicate Partitioning During Core-Mantle Differentiation

James Badro

Identifying extant materials that act as compositional proxies for Earth is key to understanding its accretion. Copper and sulfur are both moderately volatile elements; however, they display different geochemical behavior (e.g., phase affinities). Thus, in ...

AMER GEOPHYSICAL UNION2018

Effects of the Anisotropy of the Fault Zone Permeability on the Timing of Triggered Earthquakes: Insights from 3D-Coupled Fluid Flow and Geomechanical Deformation Modeling

Claudia Maria Colciago, Anna Scotti

In the last years, numerous seismological evidences have shown a strict correlation between fluid injection and seismicity. An important topic that is currently under discussion in the scientific community concerns the prediction of the earthquake magnitud ...

SPRINGER BASEL AG2018

From 2D to 3D Characterization of Materials Subjected to Extreme Pressure and Temperature Conditions

Farhang Nabiei

Planetesimal were the first planetary objects to form in the solar system, which later grew to make the proto-planets. Most of these bodies were differentiated as a result of internal heating. Several differentiated bodies have, then, been accreted followi ...

EPFL2017

The importance of mantle wedge heterogeneity to subduction zone magmatism and the origin of EM1

Stéphane Laurent Escrig

The composition of the convecting asthenospheric mantle that feeds the mantle wedge can be investigated via rear-arc lavas that have minimal slab influence. This "ambient mantle wedge" composition (the composition of the wedge prior to the addition of a sl ...

Elsevier2017

Weekly to monthly time scale of melt inclusion entrapment prior to eruption recorded by phosphorus distribution in olivine from mid-ocean ridges

Anders Meibom, Stéphane Laurent Escrig, Othmar Müntener, Lukas Baumgartner, Mélina Manzini

Melt inclusions (MIs) hosted in euhedral olivine have been proposed to represent droplets of primary melt, protected from processes occurring near Earth's surface during eruption. The complex zoning of phosphorus (P) in some olivines and the presence of a ...

Geological Soc Amer, Inc2017