9710478 Christensen This grant provides partial support of a technician's salary for a three year period. The technician will be responsible for the operation and maintenance of a newly established high pressure- high temperature facility at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. This facility incorporates the rock physics laboratories of Nik Christensen (just starting at Wisconsin after 13 years at Purdue University) and Herb Wang and the hydrothermal labs of Lukas Baumgartner and Reid Cooper. The research foci of these PI's includes studies of the seismic properties of geologic materials at lower crustal and upper mantle pressures and temperatures, investigations of the poroelastic properties of rocks in the upper crust, studies of the solubilities and thermodynamics of solid solutions and the behavior of synthetic materials at elevated temperatures and pressures. More specifically, the technician will directly support these PI's in a diverse array of research projects including laboratory studies of the seismic properties of lower crustal rocks from the Sierra Nevada and Basin and Range provinces, measurement of the solubility of synthetic pelites and studies of the thermodynamics of olivine solid solutions. ***
