Rock Deformation and Mineral Physics Laboratory
Contact: Dr. Pamela Burnley

Equipment in the lab includes a Griggs apparatus, a small machine shop, an argon ion mill and several workstations running MSC. MARC/ Mentat finite element software. The Griggs apparatus, which is a modified piston-cylinder rock deformation apparatus, is currently being renovated and will be capable of 15 Kb confining pressure and 1500 C when the renovations are finished. The machine shop includes a mill/drill with rock coring capability, a lathe and all the tools needed to fabricate metal parts as well as high pressure sample assembly parts. The Argon ion mill is used to thin 3mm foils made from mineral grains for examination in with a transmission electron microscope. We use finite element modeling to investigate the stresses and strains around fluid inclusions caused by differential thermal expansion and also to investigate the stresses caused by solid state phase transformations that involve a volume change.

Griggs apparatus being installed.

Ar ion mill.

Machine Shop.