The proposed research is designed to study the atomic level structures and dynamic properties of liquids and glasses in the system CaO-MgO-Al2O3-SiO2, using a combination of NMR and vibrational (IR and Raman) spectroscopies, and molecular dynamics simulations. The main objective of this work is to characterize the variation in number and type of atomic configurations, especially the Si and Al coordinations, and to examine next-nearest neighbor environments present in the liquids as a function of composition and temperature. This study should increase understanding of the temperature- and composition-dependent behavior of natural magmas during igneous processes.
