Eleanor is in Barcelona at the pre-Goldschmidt ENKI workshop, run by Mark Ghiorso and Aaron Wolf. ENKI is intended to provide an environment in which thermodynamic datasets and a-x relations can be developed and used in exceedingly flexible ways. So far it seems very promising – an admirable community software project! We will aim to implement the HPx-eos within ENKI.
We’re delighted to welcome John Mansour onto the development team. John is a programmer who has worked extensively on the Underworld geodynamics code. He will be helping us with (i) facilitating open-system calculations in THERMOCALC, and (ii) working towards the integration of phase equilibrium calculations with Underworld.
Eleanor has been at the Australian National University in Canberra visiting Corinne Frigo. Corinne has recently begun a complex program of experiments on the generation of basalt-analogue melts in the CMAS±Cr system. The new igneous set of HPx-eos do not agree too well with Corinne’s initial experiments. This is not really a surprise at this stage, but we have some work to do before we can understand what is wrong.
Corinne is working with Hugh O’Neill, Richard Arculus and Eleanor on ARC Discovery Project DP170100982, A new perspective on melting in the Earth and the origin of basalts. In this project we have the opportunity for close interaction between the experimental program and the internally-consistent modelling work. Enlightening and fun! Corinne will present some of this work at Goldschmidt on 21st August.
…and it’s a sunny winter’s morning in Melbourne, so it’s time for coffee and a chat.
This is getting underway, and we look forward to introducing some new team members to work on this project!
Photo: Melbourne’s beautiful CBD in the evening light
We hope soon to introduce THERMOCALC-powered open-system modelling facilities, based as always on the phase relations encapsulated in the HPx-eos. These facilities will be standalone, but will also link into the Underworld geodynamic modelling toolkit.
Eleanor is trying to wrap her brain around how to handle chemically-open systems in solid-Earth geoscience as a fully general problem, and bridge the communication gap with her colleagues in software development and geodynamics. More news later this week…
The general structure for the website is now in place, but there is nothing to download yet, other than Luca’s excellent avPy package for olivine-bearing igneous rocks.
One reason for the delay is that THERMOCALC is evolving very fast at present, and we are waiting for a stable version with some new features completed. This will involve some intensive RP-Eleanor discussions after RP gets back from Europe. Late July might be a good estimate for completing the THERMOCALC section.
Richard and RP are working on osumilite thermodynamics in St Andrews, supervised by a large herring gull called Alfred (or are there several Alfreds? hard to tell).
Photo: Osumilite (by Fred Kruijen via Wikimedia Commons)
Now that the semester is over, Eleanor is writing a lot:
RP is away, so all is quiet!
Please note, we are no longer active on Twitter, having lost access to our account.
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The HPx-eos and THERMOCALC 