Earth materials and earth dynamics

In the project ''Earth Materials and Earth Dynamics'' we linked fundamental and exploratory, experimental, theoretical, and computational research programs to shed light on the current and past states of the dynamic Earth. Our objective was to combine different geological, geochemical, geophysical, and materials science analyses with numerical techniques to illuminate active processes in the Earth. These processes include fluid-rock interactions that form and modify the lithosphere, non-linear wave attenuations in rocks that drive plate tectonics and perturb the earth's surface, dynamic recrystallization of olivine that deforms the upper mantle, development of texture in high-pressure olivine polymorphs that create anisotropic velocity regions in the convecting upper mantle and transition zone, and the intense chemical reactions between the mantle and core. We measured physical properties such as texture and nonlinear elasticity, equation of states at simultaneous pressures and temperatures, magnetic spins and bonding, chemical permeability, and thermal-chemical feedback to better characterize earth materials. We artificially generated seismic waves, numerically modeled fluid flow and transport in rock systems and modified polycrystal plasticity theory to interpret measured physical properties and integrate them into our understanding of the Earth. This is the final report of a three-year, Laboratory-Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL)