Mineral equilibria and geodynamics of high-pressure rocks

High-grade metamorphic rocks, in particular eclogites and granulites, provide important information
about burial, de/relamination and exhumation processes in continental orogenic belts. Metamorphism to high temperatures is associated with substantial or complete devolatilization and frequently with melt formation. Release or retention of these media exerts fundamental control on formation and preservation of peak mineral assemblages. We explore evolution of eclogites and granulites by application of phase equilibria and thermodynamic modeling. As spin-off of studies with multicomponent rock systems, we use mineral thermodynamics in development of Gibbs energy minimization algorithms for geodynamic and geophysical applications.

Collaborators: Lars Wihanto (B.Sc.), Anna Lauer (M.Sc.), Jonas Kämpf (B.Sc.), Thomas Chust (Bayreuth), Gerd Steinle-Neumann (Bayreuth)

Representative publications: Piazzoni et al. (2007), Faryad et al. (2009), (2010), Nahodilová et al. (2011), Chemia et al. (2015)