MSE Colloquium: Wendy Panero, Earth Under Pressure: Probing the Deepest Reaches of the Planet

Associate Professor, School of Earth Sciences, The Ohio State University

All dates for this event occur in the past.

264 MacQuigg Labs
105 W. Woodruff Ave.
Columbus, OH 43210
United States

Abstract

The Earth’s inner core is the youngest major feature of the Earth, slowly growing from the inside out at temperatures and pressures of ~6000K and 3.6 Mbar.  The dynamics of this region are a consequence of its composition, mineralogy, and viscosity, while influencing the Earth’s magnetic field and moment of inertia.   Recent seismic results show significant heterogeneous features, suggesting that it is undergoing a dynamic process of unknown origin.

This talk presents new methods for measuring transport properties under the high-pressure, high-temperature conditions of the Earth’s core, combining synchrotron-based X-ray experiments at high pressure and temperature with post-run focused-ion beam milling and transmission electron microscopy.  Together with models for texture evolution in metals, the mechanism by which the inner core develops and maintains anisotropy appears to be a combination of preferential growth in equatorial regions combined with solid-state deformation in response to mass variations in the Earth’s mantle.

Bio

Wendy Panero earned a BS in physics at Harvey Mudd College, and PhD in geophysics at University of California, Berkeley.  After 3 years as a Turner Postdoctoral Fellow at University of Michigan, she joined the School of Earth Sciences at Ohio State in 2005.  She has and NSF CAREER award.

Dr Panero's research focuses on the physical properties of materials under deep-planetary conditions, combining results from ab-initio calculations with laboratory-based experiments at high pressures and temperatures.  Her focus is on the formation, state, and evolution of planetary interiors.