9419366 Waff Electrical conductivity will be measured on mixtures of basalt and loivine (simulating partially molten upper mantle) that have been heated at mantle pressures for several hundred hours. Conductivity of the bulk sample (basalt plus olivine mixtures) increases dramatically when melting occurs. The bulk sample conductivity is related principally to how melt is distributed in the sample and how much melt is present. These measurements are important for understanding the distribution and amount of melt present in the mantle near mid-ocean ridges.
