9415224 O Neill This award supports a 12-month Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Postdoctoral Fellowship for Dr. Bridget O Neill, Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of California, at the University of Tokyo, Japan. Dr. O Neill will work with Dr. Takehiko Yagi, Institute for Solid State Physics, on a research project entitled, Japan JSPS Program: Investigation of Oxygen Fugacity in Petrologic Experiments at Ultra-High Pressures. Oxygen fugacity is a petrologic parameter which reflects the tectonic processes of mantle samples. Usually oxygen fugacity is a controlled parameter in low pressure petrologic experiments simulating conditions of the Earth s crust and to a depth of less than 70 km in the upper mantle. The Earth s mantle extends to a depth of about 2900 km, corresponding to a pressure of about 135 Gigapascals. To date no attempts have been made to control or determine the oxygen fugacity at such ultra-high pressures. Dr. O Neill and Dr. Yagi will utilize the high-pressure facilities at the University of Tsukuba to adapt oxygen fugacity control techniques to ultra-high pressure experiments. The team will systematically conduct oxygen fugacity experiments at pressures greater than 5 Gigapascals under different temperature conditions. Their research will not only extend the calibration range of geobarometers and geothermometers but will be useful in maximizing the transition temperature of many high-Tc superconductors. ***
