Amphibole Q1 and Q2 guesses

Do you do calculations with clinoamphiboles (hb, act, gl) using the Green et al (2016) version of the x-eos? Have you struggled to find valid starting guesses for the order variables Q1 and Q2? You can now download a spreadsheet to help! (amph_q1q2.xlsx at the bottom of the linked section).

New axfile downloads

You can now download the axfiles from Tomlinson & Holland (2021) and Green et al (2012).

Minor website updates

Melbourne’s magnificent Eureka Tower (right) vanishing into mist – a sorely missed view during this homeworking period.

Shocked to see that there was no blog post in August!

Some minor updates:

I have finally put up some benchmark calculations for the igneous, metabasite and metapelite sets of HPx-eos. Thanks to Simon for his help with the latter.
RP has fixed some bugs in DRAWPD 1.18. The updated software can be downloaded from the usual DRAWPD page.
Tim has provided a full pseudosection replacing Fig 5 (basalt RE46 composition) in Holland et al (2018). The original figure was only intended to show phase relations among the phases present at 1 bar, and how these extend to higher pressure. But as this was misinterpreted, the new figure shows the standard pseudosection.

Keep safe, everyone.

New tutorial: compatibility diagrams

Simon has kindly written a new tutorial on calculating compatibility diagrams in THERMOCALC. This tutorial is the second of a three-part series that highlights the relationship between P-T projections, compatibility diagrams and pseudosections. If you’d like to try calculating some compatibility diagrams, or you’re interested in understanding more deeply how phase equilibrium calculations can be applied to rocks, I’d recommend this excellent short tutorial.

Resurfacing

As Melbourne goes back into lockdown, we reach the end of a bruising semester. Many apologies to those who have asked me questions recently and got no answer. Please ask again if your problem is still outstanding, as I have lost track of who you are.

Much appreciation to those of you who are, or soon will be, training the next generation of practical petrologists over the internet – and also to those budding petrologists who are being trained!

I hope all of you and your folks are safe and well,

Eleanor

COVID-19 hiatus

Dear friends, colleagues, and all HPx-eos/THERMOCALC users,

There will be a hiatus in news, as, in common with the rest of the global community, we work to handle the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on our professional and personal lives. I hope to return to website developments in June, after the end of semester.

Wishing all of you the very best at this difficult time,

Eleanor and the rest of the team

Website updates: moving on to the HPx-eos

I’ve now finished the THERMOCALC section of the website, other than some exceptions listed below. In the last few days I’ve rationalised and completed the documentation for P-T projection and pseudosection calculations. I’ll be moving on to add more about the HPx-eos, which will be relevant to users of THERMOCALC, Perple_X and other software.

Outstanding THERMOCALC-related material:

THERMOCALC 3.50 is still in beta, and currently we don’t trust it to handle several of the less common calculation facilities. I will write more about those when the working software is released.
Simon is still working on his excellent set of tutorials, as well as an app for plotting compatibility diagrams (with some kind help from John!).

Have fun, please report any broken links or glaring omissions.

New P-T projection tutorial

New to phase diagram modelling? Always wanted to know how petrogenetic grids were made but didn’t dare to ask? Worry no more! Here’s the first of a series of tutorials, a simple, step-by-step guide to build your own P-T projection with THERMOCALC!

THERMOCALC downloads not so ready….

Okay, various problems are cropping up, which I am working on:

Windows downloads of THERMOCALC produce empty files: fixed, new versions dated 13-12-2019.
Windows download of DRAWPD 1.17 not working: this is a bug, which we are working to fix. Meanwhile, I’ve uploaded DRAWPD 1.15 for Windows, which should work.
tc-mb50NCKFMASHTO and tc-ig50NCKFMASHTOCr don’t always run: new versions of igneous and metabasite input files uploaded, dated 13-12-2019. The problem here was a minor formatting error, resulting from the very last change to tc350 before uploading (tc350 has been changing up to twice a day for the last few weeks!). The formatting changes relate to making the syntax of axfiles stricter, providing more transparency for users and less chance of unintended consequences for developers.

Have you noticed anything else wrong? Please tell me!

As always, do join our discussion group, and follow us on Twitter @hpxeos (Simon is the Twittermaster!).

THERMOCALC downloads ready

I’m about to put THERMOCALCs 3.47 and 3.50 online, along with HPx-eos input files. Not much here yet for new users, or for people who want to use the HPx-eos in a different program. This will take a bit longer, due to other work pressures, but I do aim to have the website largely complete within the next few months. Meanwhile do feel free to join the Discussion Group.

Update 13-12-19: I’m working to get the Windows downloads working… please check back later if you’re looking for these.