Newsletter of the Global COE program

Deep Earth Mineralogy

No. 2, May 30, 2009

Center for Advanced Experimental andTheoretical Deep Earth Mineralogy
先進的実験と理論による地球深部物質学拠点
Hot paper picked up by Nature Geoscience

News & Events
The Young Scientists’ Prize to Prof. Tsuchiya
On 14 April in Tokyo, Prof. Taku
Tsuchiya, the leader of theoreticalmineral physics group of GRC, received
the Young Scientists’ Prize from the
Minister of Ministry of Education,
Culture, Sports, Science andTechnology (MEXT) for his researchachievements in lower mantle
mineralogy based on ab initio
computations. This prize is awarded to outstanding young scientists
below 40 y.o. in all research fields, among which only a couple ofscientists are selected in whole Earth science community in Japan.
Prof. Tsuchiya plays an important role as the executive committee
member of our global COE program, particularly on theadvancement of cutting edge researches in deep Earth mineralogy.

Completion of BOTCHAN-6000 and SOSEKI LAB
A 4-floor building, housing a new 6000-ton Kawai-type apparatus
and connected to the Integrated Research Building, was completed
and an opening ceremony was held on 30 March, attended by theheadquarters and the council members of Ehime University,
including the president Prof. Komatsu. The name of “BOTCHAN”(Beyond observable Toughness and Conceivable Hardness of
Artificial Nano-diamond) is taken from a novel by Soseki Natsume,and the laboratory was named as “SOSEKI LAB” after the writer.
Another meaning of SOSEKI in Japanese is “creation of gemstones”, and is expected to produce high-quality single crystals andsintered high-pressure phases at high pressure and temperature.
With BOTCHAN-6000, HIME-DIA of as large as ~1 cm will also
be synthesized and applied for new high-pressure apparatus forhigher pressure and temperature generation.

Dr. Dirk Spengler, PD fellow of Ehime
University, published his research paper withhis colleagues, entitled “Long-lived, cold
burial of Baltica to 200 km depth”, in Earthand Planetary Science Letters (EPSL, 281,
27-35, 2009). This paper has been picked up
in the recent volume of a famous journal of“Nature Geoscience” as one of researchhighlights (Nature Geosci., vol 2, no. 5). With
this outstanding result, now Dr. Spengler
proceeds to further step of his research in the current position of
Senior Research Fellow Center in Ehime University, which is acollaborative center with the global COE program.

Honorable Guest Professorship to Prof. Irifunefrom CUG Wuhan
Prof. Tetsuo Irifune, the leader of the global COE program and the
director of GRC, was awarded the Honorable Guest Professorshipfrom China University of Geoscience (CUG), Wuhan. Prof. Irifune
gave a lecture on the phase transition and constitution of the Earth’ smantle and subducting lithologies after the ceremony, and wasinvited to a banquet with the president of CUG and its headquarters.
CUG is one of the major universities in China with more than 40000
students and 22 Schools in broad natural and social sciences, as wellas engineering, law, education, etc., and selects some internationallyacknowledged and distinguished scientists for the professorship.

Booth at JPGU Meeting
An exibition booth was run by GRC members to advertise theactivities of GRC and global COE during the period (16-21 May) of
the Japan Geoscience Union (JPGU) meeting held in Makuhari, near
Tokyo. The persons in charge of explaining the displays, including
nano-polycrystalline diamond (HIME-DIA), wore special JapaneseKimono and attracted many participants and visitors. These
costumes for “Botchan” (young master) and “Madonna” are those formain characters in a Japanese novel written by Soseki Natsume, oneof the most famous writers in Meiji era in Japan, and used for thenames of the new 6000-ton Kawai type and 1500-ton D-DIA typeapparatus introduced in GRC.

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News & Events
Official agreements with CUG and SCU

To activate and establish the Asian network of deep Earth mineralogy,
official agreements for mutual academic exchange of educations andresearches have been signed and entered into force between State Key
Laboratory of Geological Processes and Mineral Resources, China
University of Geosciences (CUG) and GRC, and between Institute ofAtomic and Molecular Physics, Sichuan University (SCU) and GRC.
Adding to the agreements, the memorandum has also been signed, whichprescribes accommodations for active and mutual exchange of students.
According to the agreement and memorandum, accommodation for PhD
students and internship programs are now planned between these
institutes.

5th International Frontier Seminar“Effects of Hydration on the elastic propertiesof transition zone minerals”
Lecturer : Prof. Steven D. Jacobsen(Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences,
Northwestern University, USA)
Date: 3 March 2009

Reform of GRC

In association with the global COE program, GRC has been reformed
to seven (five experimental and two computational simulation)
research/education groups: (1) high-pressure Earth science and technicaldevelopment, (2) diamond and new materials synthesis, (3) fluid andmagma, (4) rheology, (5) applications of diamond anvil cell andquantum beams, (6) mineral physics based on ab initio calculations, and(7) simulation of mantle and core dynamics. In addition to these groups,
a new administration office and a COE supporting office have beencreated to strongly support the activities of GRC and the global COE
program (see, TANDEM news for further details).

Activity report by young scientists for FY2008
16 March, 2009, Ehime University
Takaaki KAWAZOE (PD Fellow, GRC)

Rheological properties of deep mantle minerals under high-pressure and temperature
based on deformation and melting experiments

Yoshio KONO (PD Fellow, present: Research Fellow, GRC)

6th International Frontier Seminar“Laboratory-based Interpretation of Upper-mantle Seismic
Tomograms : Progress and Prospects”
Lecturer : Prof. Ian Jackson(Research School of Earth Sciences,
Australian National University, Australia)
Date: 3 March 2009

Elastic wave velocity measurements of minerals, rocks, and melts at high pressures andhigh temperatures

Akihiro YAMADA (PD Fellow, GRC)
Relaxation of MgSiO3 glass

Yusuke USUI (PD Fellow, GRC)

Anisotropy and velocity heterogeneity in the deep Earth’s mantle: cross study combinedwith seismic observations and numerical modeling

Steeve Gréaux (PD Fellow, GRC)

Impact of 3+ cations hosting on properties of minerals of the Earth’s deep mantle

Yoshinori TANGE (PD Fellow, present: Assistant Professor, GRC)

Developments in high-pressure experiments for precise determination of the bulk
composition of the lower mantle

Leiming FANG (PhD student, GRC)High pressure and high temperature synthesis of novel crystalline C-N materials

Takehiro KUNIMOTO (PhD student, GRC)

Development of a 6-8-2 type multi-anvil apparatus and its applications

Yu NISHIHARA (Senior Research Fellow, Ehime Univ.)

The phase transformation in MgSiO 3 pyroxenes at high-pressure and -temperature
determined by in-situ X-ray diffraction: Implications for nature of the X-discontinuity

Jun TSUCHIYA (Senior Research Fellow, Ehime Univ.)

First principles investigations on hydrous systems -Brief reports of our recent works andfuture plans-

Shoko ODAKE (PhD student, Univ. Tokyo)
Laser processing of Nano-polycrystalline diamond

Hiroaki OHFUJI (Assistant Professor, GRC)

Laser Heating in “nano-polycrystalline” diamond anvil cell -Application for melting
experiments of iron-Yuji HIGO (Research Scientist, SPring-8)

Development of the elastic wave velocity measurement technique which can be adapted
for soft material -a preliminary experimental result

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7th International Frontier Seminar“Some Remaining Problems in the Mantle”
Lecturer : Prof. Craig R.Bina(Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences,
Northwestern University, USA )Date: 4 March 2009

Forthcoming Events
The 2nd International Special Lecture“Water Distribution Across the Mantle Transition Zone in Earthand Its Implications for the Evolution of Ocean”
Lecturer: Shun-ichiro Karato(Yale University, Department of Geology and Geophysics)
Date: 2-3 September 2009, Venue: Ehime University, JapanThe transition zone of Earth’s mantle(MTZ; ~410 to ~660 km depth) can store alarge amount of water up to ~ten times of
the current ocean mass. Consequently, thislayer may play an important role in thecirculation of water in Earth. However, therole of MTZ in water circulation has beenpoorly understood because of the
difficulties in determining the water
distribution in the deep mantle. Various
geochemical and geophysical observations
are reviewed including the water contents invarious basalts as well as electricalconductivity and seismological observations in order to infer thewater distribution in the deep mantle of Earth at present. It is
concluded that the MTZ has a range of water content but is ~ 0.1-0.3
wt% in the Pacific. This value is about ten times higher than thewater content in the asthenosphere and is close to the critical watercontent for partial melting at above the 410-km discontinuity. Thissuggests that the water content in MTZ is self-regulated by partial
melting that would in turn stabilize the ocean mass during thegeological history.

Internship Program“Tutorial for Crystal Structure Analysis”

Date: 19-21 August, 2009, Venue: Ehime University
Lecturer: Kazuki Komatsu(Geochemical Laboratory, The Univ. of Tokyo)
This is a practical internship program focused on a basic
procedure for crystal structure analysis. It would be particularly
suitable for Ph.D. students, Post-Doc and young scientists who are
beginners for Rietveld refinements and structure solving. Anyone
who would like to improve their knowledge and skills for crystal
structure analysis or anyone who is interested in the experiments inspallation neutron sources like J-PARC will be also welcome.
The internship will include the following program.
・Procedure of analysis for powder x-ray/neutron diffraction
using GSAS
・An introduction to crystallography (the definition of crystal, thediffraction process, concept of reciprocal lattice, Bragg’s law,
space group etc…)
・What profile patterns tells us. (lattice constants, atomic
coordinates, atomic displacements, crystalline size, preferredorientation, residual stress, etc…)
It is preferable that participants will bring their own laptop
computer to install some crystallographic software. GRC can
prepare several laptop PCs, if participants do not have it. The
number of participants would be limited up to 15.
Contact address: Geodynamics Research Center, Ehime University
2-5 Bunkyo-cho, Matsuyama, Ehime 790-8577, JAPANToru Inoue (Professor)
Email: inoue@sci.ehime-u.ac.jp

Contact address: Geodynamics Research Center, Ehime University
2-5 Bunkyo-cho, Matsuyama, Ehime 790-8577, JAPANAkira Yamada (Research Administrator)
Email:yamada@sci.ehime-u.ac.jp

GRC-BGI Workshop

Date: 17-19 June, 2009, Venue: Bayreuth, Germany
The joint workshop by BGI (Bayerishes Geoinstitut, University of
Bayreuth) and GRC will be held at Bayreuth, Germany, on June
17-19, 2009. The workshop is aiming at training young scientists tobecome international researchers with high presentation anddicussion abilities. Another objective is to share and exchange
information on the researches and experimental and computational
techniques between GRC and BGI on deep Earth mineralogy (GRC
and BGI have the offiical agreement for mutual academic exchangeof educations and researches).
Program (Session title)
17 June
11:15-14:45 Phase Equilibria and Phase Transformationsin the Earth’s mantle
14:45-15:25 Mineral Physics I
15:30Lab Tours
18 June9:00-10:10 Silicate Metlts and Fluids
10:45-12:20 Mineral Physics II
14:00-15:35 New Experimental Methods
15:35Poster Session
19 June9:00-10:20 Deformation and Rheology
10:45-12:20 Earth’s core

International Summer School“P-V-T equations of state of materials”

Date: 3-5 August, 2009, Venue: Ehime University
T. Tsuchiya and Y. Tange from GRC are in charge of a G-COE
international summer school "P-V-T equations of state of materials"
to be held on August 3-5 at GRC as a satellite meeting of theforthcoming AIRAPT 22. Uncertainty in pressure standards andaccurate measurement of P-V-T EoS of materials is long been acritical issue in high-pressure science and technology. Several
important progresses can however be seen in these years inexperimental techniques, analytical and calculation methods andtheory. Now it is a nice timing to meet researchers from several
research areas and discuss the topics comprehensively to take a next
step. The workshop will be composed of reviews of cutting-edge
research results and discussion. Talks will be given by top-level
world-wide scientists from (i) theory and modelling, (ii) shock
experiment, and (iii) static experiment. We are also planning to havea special lecture to be given by Prof. Holzapfel accompanied withthe workshop. People involved in the high-pressure science andtechnology of course including students are most welcome.
Contact address: Geodynamics Research Center, Ehime University
2-5 Bunkyo-cho, Matsuyama, Ehime 790-8577, JAPANTaku Tsuchiya (Professor)
Email:takut@sci.ehime-u.ac.jp

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New Members
Kiyoshi FUJINO (Professor)

Hisako HIRAI (Professor)

My name is Kiyoshi Fujino. I came from
Hokkaido University. Actually, I had
been a faculty member of the Departmentof Earth Sciences at Ehime-University
until 16 years ago. My speciality covers awide range of phase equilibria, crystal
structures, phase transitions and rheologyof minerals at high pressure and hightemperature, using X-ray diffraction,
analytical electron microscopy and highpressure and high temperature experiments including a laser-heateddiamond anvil cell. Currently, I am interested in the experimental
measurement of spin states of iron in the lower mantle minerals. I
would like to deeply contribute to the succession of the fundamental
methods of studying minerals such as crystallography and thermodynamics along with the basic experimental methods in the international
cooperation of the Global COE program.

I moved to GRC from Tsukuba University
on this April. My major is high-pressurematerial science and Earth-planetaryscience. I study high-pressure properties ofgas hydrates, e.g. methane, hydrogen andcarbon dioxide hydrates, and planetaryices, e.g. solid methane and ethane by using
diamond anvil cell in wide temperature
range from 77K to 2500K. On the basis of
the experimental results, I try to understandthe nature of these materials and also toinfer interiors of the icy planets and theirmoons. Besides, I’m interested in synthesis of diamond and ultra-hardmaterials, especially in the transition mechanisms from starting materials.

Yasuhiro KUWAYAMA (Assistant Professor)

My research is high pressure study for gas
hydrates. Gas hydrates are inclusioncompounds which are made of hydrogenbonded water molecules forming cages orframeworks and of including gas
molecules. Methane hydrate is expected to
become a promising natural resource. Also,hydrogen has attracted attention as a newenergy resource, and hydrogen hydrate is
expected to be the storage of hydrogenmolecules. In the icy planets of the solar system, methane hydrate andhydrogen hydrate are considered to be the major constituents of outerplanets and their moons. To estimate the formation and evolution
process and the interiors in icy planets, high pressure experiments ofgas hydrate are important.

My name is Yasuhiro Kuwayama and I have
moved here from Tokyo Institute of Technology. I received my Ph.D from Tokyo
Tech. in 2007, working with Prof. Kei
Hirose on phase relations of iron alloys
based on laser-heated diamond-anvil cell
(LH-DAC) experiments. My current
research interests are focused mainly on the
structure, composition, dynamics and evolution of the Earth's central core. Achieving
high pressure and temperature conditions
equivalent to the center of the Earth is a major experimental challenge.
I will make efforts to successfully achieve accurate measurements
under such extreme conditions, in order to understand the whole range
structure of the deep Earth interior from mantle to core. It is my great
pleasure to work at GRC.

Ayako SHINOZAKI (PhD student)

I graduated master course from Universityof Tsukuba in this spring. I research for
relationship between C-O-H fluid mantle
minerals using laser heated diamond anvilcell. Mantle dynamics considerably
depends on these fluids. Thus, existence
and states of the fluids in the Earth’s
mantle are important issues to beunderstood. Methane and water fluids arestable in the lower part of mantle. I'd like toreveal about stability of methane in the
mantle condition, the effect of methane and hydrogen on stability andcrystal structure of olivine.

Shinichi MACHIDA (COE Postdoctoral Fellow)

Sayaka MURAKAMI (PhD student)

I start from this April on experiments
under the condition at the Earth's
core-mantle boundary (CMB) using
diamond anvil cell. The objective of
my research is to determine melting
temperature of major minerals in thelower mantle, which is importnt issue
to understand Ultra-Low Velocity Zone(ULVZ) suggested to exist just above
the CMB. The origins of ULVZ aresuggested to be due to partial meltingof mantle materials. However, themelting temperature for lower mantle minerals are not welldetermined. Through the experiments in my PhD student life, I'd liketo investigate the origins of heterogeneous structures at CMB and to
study the dynamics at the CMB.

Internship Report
Akihiro YAMADA (COE Postdoctoral Fellow)
I visited Department of geology, University of California Davis(UCDavis) as an internship scholar from January to mid March. I
studied about structure and density of dense silicate glass withstudents and researchers there. They are investigating silicate melt
structure and the physical properties (e.g., density and viscosity) at
high pressure through the relaxation process of the glass, whichreflects the structure of super-cooled liquid at the conditions where
it is synthesized. In particular, they have excellent facility of solidstate Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), which focuses on
structural analysis of dense amorphous materials including silicates
synthesized at high pressure and temperature. They gave me a

Page 4chance to collect the data of dense MgSiO3 glasses synthesized athigh pressures and temperatures. In addition, I had a chance toparticipate in the beamtime of UCDavis group at Advanced Photon
Source (APS). The group at UCDavis and GSECars have beenworking on the volumetric properties of silicate melt with pressureusing high-pressure micro X-ray computed tomography, which is
unique technique developed at GSECarse (Sector 13). In thismethod, we can get 3D image of sample by taking 2D sample image
with rotating 180 degree (e.g., every 0.5 degrees). This method isuseful for many kinds of experiment.
I am so grateful to GRC faculties, secretary and colleagues at
UCDavis, Prof. C.E. Lesher and his students, for giving me great
opportunity and their kind helps during this internship programHot Researches by Young Scientists

Takaaki KAWAZOE(COE Postdoctral Fellow)

It is important to study rheologicalproperties of mantle minerals (e.g., olivine,
wadsleyite, ringwoodite and Mg-perovskite)
at high pressure for understanding mantle
dynamics. Pressure range of the traditional
deformation experiments had been limited up
to a few GPa using a gas apparatus and a
Griggs apparatus. The situation was changed
by developments of two types of new
high-pressure deformation apparatus, namely
deformation-DIA apparatus (D-DIA; Wang etal., 2003) and rotational Drickamer apparatus

Elastic properties of MgGeO3
postperovskite by first principles
calculations
Yusuke USUI(COE Postdoctral Fellow)

Now the relationship between the seismic
velocity heterogeneity observed in the deep
mantle and the properties of postperovskite
phase of MgSiO3 is being discussed
extensively. Since the MgSiO3 has quite hightransition pressure, study of low-pressure
analogs is also important. Although thehigh-P,T phase relation of MgGeO3 ispredicted to be quite similar to those of
MgSiO3 including the Clapeyron slope, it isstill not well understood how similar the elastic
properties of analogs to those of MgSiO3. Weshow the elasticity of MgGeO3 perovskite (pv)and postperovskite (ppv) calculated based on
the density functional first principles methods,
and compare them to those reported for
MgSiO3.

(RDA; Yamazaki and Karato, 2001). Bothapparatus have capability to generate pressureof 18 GPa at high temperatures (Nishiyama etal., 2007; Nishihara et al., 2008). The D-DIA
apparatus has simpler deformation geometrycompared with that of the RDA. This makes it
easier to interpret a lattice preferredorientation (LPO) of a deformed sample. Thisadvantage of the D-DIA apparatus motivatedus to conduct deformation experiment ofmantle minerals with large strain at highpressure to study their LPO. Here we willreport results of preliminary experiments
using a D-DIA apparatus “MADONNA”.
Preliminary experiments were performed
using “MADONNA” with a 6-6 typecompression system (Nishiyama et al., 2008).
We employed tungsten carbide anvils forpressure-generation and deformation tests.
The relationship between sample pressure andpress load was calibrated at room temperatureby measuring electrical resistance change of
ZnTe (12.0 GPa), ZnS (16.2 GPa), GaAs
(19.3 GPa) and GaP (24 GPa). Calibration of
the relationship at high temperature(1900-2000 K) was conducted by the quench
method using phase transitions in Mg2SiO4.
Pressure generation was observed up to 20
and 24 GPa (Figure) at 1900-2000 K androom temperature, respectively. Preliminary
deformation experiments were performed
using a deformation cell at 19 GPa and room
temperature. Deformation of a pressure
medium was monitored as advancement ofThe behavior of elastic property of MgGeO3
ppv is generally the same as those of MgSiO3.
The small c22 means that the [010] direction
parallel to the stacking direction of GeO3
layers is significantly compressible. The large
c66 indicates that a lateral shift of layers ((010)
planes) parallel to the edge sharing octahedralcolumns (along [100]) faces the greatest
resistance. These are also found in MgSiO3
ppv. On the other hand, c55 is clearly smaller
than other shear elastic constants. This means
the resistance very weak for shear deformationof GeO3 plane itself. In comparison with
MgGeO3 and MgSiO3, c55 of MgGeO3 isremarkably smaller than that of MgSiO3. This
indicates that the shear elasticity of ppv ismore distinct in MgGeO3 than in MgSiO3.
The isotropic averaged compressional (P),shear (S) and bulk (φ) wave velocities show
negative jumps of -1.09%, -1.02% and -1.12%
across the static transition pressure,respectively. These are very different from thecase of MgSiO3, where the S wave of ppv
shows a distinct positive jump of +1.5%, being
consistent with the typical character of the D”
discontinuity. In this point, the elasticity of
MgGeO3 ppv is not completely analogous tothat of MgSiO3. For transverse anisotropy(AST), both phases have the same anisotropy
trend at relevant pressures, though theanisotropy in MgGeO3 has somewhat larger
pressure dependences in all three directions.
AST of MgGeO3 for [100], [010], [001] aligned
vertically are +1.0%, +2.8% and +26.9%,
respectively. Those of MgSiO3 are quite
similar and -6.7%, +3.4%, and +16.8%,
respectively. Unlike CaIrO3, distinctive
VSV<VSH type transverse anisotropy, that is
typically observable in the D” layer, isupper and lower anvils using displacement
sensors.
These results show capability of“MADONNA” to conduct deformation
experiments up to 20 GPa and 2000 K.
Further technical development is to be done
toward deformation experiments of mantle
minerals
and
rocks
under
pressure-temperature conditions of the mantle
transition zone and the lower mantle.
11

10Electrical resistance (ohm)Preliminary Experiments using theDeformation-DIA Apparatus“MADONNA”

24 GPa
at 1.40 MN

9

10

7

10

5

10

3

10

1

10

GaP
-1

10

0.0

0.5

1.0
Load (MN)

1.5

Figure 1 . Electrical resistance of GaP withapplied press load during compression
process. The generated pressure is thehighest record using a cubic-anvil apparatus(including the D-DIA apparatus).
achieved only when [001] is oriented verticallyat relevant pressures. Finally we conclude that
MgGeO3 are not fully comparable to those of
MgSiO3, in particular for the velocity contrasts
across the phase change, though we may
consider MgGeO3 as one of good low-pressure
analogs of MgSiO3.

Figure 1 . (top) Volume dependence of thenormalized elastic constants of MgGeO3 andMgSiO 3 post perovskite (bottom) Pressure
dependence of the elastic anisotropy of
MgGeO 3 and MgSiO 3 post perovskite.
Polarization anisotropy of S waves intransversely isotropic media with the threepossible orientations of the major crystalline
axes: a, b, and c oriented vertically.

Page 5TANDEM

THE ASIAN NETWORKIN DEEP EARTH MINERALOGY
News & Events
International session in JPGU meeting

An international session relevant to deep Earth mineralogy washeld during the period of the annual meeting of Japan Geoscience
Union (16-21 May). This session was run for three days, entitled as“Dynamics and Evolution of the deep Earth”, convened by T.
Katsura (Okayama Univ.), D. Zhao (Tohoku Univ.), and M.
Kameyama (Ehime Univ.), in order to enhance international
communications and collaborations in deep Earth mineralogy,
particularly in the Asian region. Our global COE program
contributed to invite some foreign researchers, including Dr.
Yingwei Fei of Geophysical Laboratory, CIW, and Nadege Hilairetof GSECARS, Univ. Chicago, and will continue to play major rolesin the corresponding international sessions in forthcoming years.
Contributions of papers from TANDEM laboratories are to be mostwelcome in these sessions of the JPGU meeting held every May in
Makuhari, near Tokyo.

TANDEM Laboratories (2009 May)
Ehime University
Japan
University of Tokyo (Geochem. Lab.)Japan
University of Tokyo (Inst. Solid State Phys.)
Japan
Japan Synchrotron Research InstituteJapan
Hokkaido University
Japan
Kyushu University
Japan
Hiroshima University
Japan
National Institute for Materials Science
Japan
Gakushuin University
Japan
Okayama University
Japan
Tokyo Institute of Technology
Japan
Osaka University
Japan
Kyoto University
Japan
University of Hyogo
Japan
Japan Agency for Marine-EarthJapan
Science Technology (IFREE)
China University of Geosciences
China
Jiling University
China
Peking University
China
Chinese Academy of Science (Inst. Geochem.)
China
Chinese Academy of Science (Inst. Geol. Geophys.) China
Yanshan University
China
Sichuan University
China
Seoul National University
Korea
National Chen Kung University
TaiwanAustralian National University
Australia
Advisors:

Page 6

Yanbin Wang, GSECARS, Univ. Chicago
Baosheng Li, MPI, Stony Brook Univ.
Juhua Chen, Florida Int. Univ.
Yingwei Fei, Carnegie Inst. Washington

Brief Communications
A visit to CUG in Wuhan
I had an opportunity to visit China University of Geoscience (CUG)
in Wuhan briefly in April and communicate with the headquarters,
including the President of CUG (Prof. Jingao Zhang), Dean of Facultyof Earth Sciences (Prof. Xiulong Lai), Director of State Key
Laboratory of Geological Processes and Mineral Resources (GPMR,
Prof. Shan Gao), and Prof. Zhenmin Jin, a member of Chinese
Academy of Science. I also enjoyed talking with the faculty staff
members and students at GPMR and a campus/lab tour organized by
Prof. Jin. I found staff members of GPMR are of world-level and thelaboratories there are very well equipped and organized, particularly
those related to experimental geochemistry and petrology. I was also
impressed by the students of GPMR, who are highly motivated andprepared to step into new research fields, in addition to their highability to communicate in English. Wuhan is the capital of Hubei
province with a population of about 10 million, and consists of a
mixture of urban high-rise buildings and traditional Chinese downtown
areas. Although I did not have time to explore the city on this visit, I
do hope to see some famous spots, such as Yellow Crane Tower, in mynext trip to Wuhan. Finally, I would like to thank Profs. Jin and
Junfeng Zhang of GPMR for their warm hospitality during my stay(article by T. Irifune).

TANDEM Laboratories
Geodynamics Research Center, Ehime University
Geodynamics Research Center (GRC) of Ehime University is thecore institute of the global COE program on Deep EarthMineralogy, which is one of three COE programs selected in Earthand planetary science field among all Japanese universities. GRC
focuses its studies on structures, physical properties, dynamics andevolution of deep Earth, based on experimental and theoreticalgrounds. GRC now has 15 faculty members (including tenure-track
positions and COE professor positions) and more than 10 post-docs
and research fellows, as well as ~15 graduate and ~10
undergraduate students. The activities of GRC and global COE arestrongly supported by about 15 technical, administrative, andofficial staff members, such as “Research Administrator” and “LabManager”, which have been firstly introduced to GRC as entirely
new positions in Japanese universities. These figures of the GRC
members are increasing year by year, and we expect the total
number will soon reach ~80.
Experimental branch of GRC is made of 5 major
research/education groups, focusing on (1) high-pressure Earthscience and technical development, (2) diamond and new materials
synthesis, (3) fluid and magma, (4) rheology, and (5) applicationsof diamond anvil cell and quantum beams, while theoretical study
groups are (6) mineral physics based on ab initio calculations and(7) simulation of mantle and core dynamics. All of these groups
organize their own seminars, in addition to the “Geodynamics
Seminar” given in English regularly held on Friday for whole GRC
members. In addition to these seminars, we invite world-leading
scientists for “International Lecture” and “International Frontier
Seminar” series open to researchers/students outside GRC.
Experimental groups share rich high-pressure experimental andanalytical facility at GRC. GRC has three conventional Kawai-type
multianvil apparatus (ORAGNGE-1000, 2000, 3000) for
high-pressure phase equilibrium and physical measurement studies,
as well as new world-largest D-DIA (MADONNA-1500) and
6000-ton Kawai-type apparatus (BOTCHAN-6000) for deformationand materials synthesis experiments, respectively. Moreover, a newversion of MADONNA (MADONNA-II) for operation ofsintered-diamond cell will be introduced within this year.
GRC also has more than 10 diamond anvil cells with a YAG
laser heating system, in addition to a Drickamer and apiston-cylinder apparatus. The analytical instruments available
include 200keV analytical TEM, SEM-EDX combined withmicro-Raman spectroscopy, FE-SEM with EBSD and EDX,
high-power X-ray with high-temperature furnace and micro-focus
attachment, FIB, micro FT-IR, etc. Utilizing these apparatus andinstruments, as well as synchrotron X-ray source of SPring-8 whichis easily accessible from GRC, experimental groups have greatly
contributed to the precise determinations of phase transitions indeep mantle and subducted slabs, elastic wave velocity
measurement under the mantle transition region, behavior of waterin deep mantle, etc. Synthesis of new materials have also been
conducted in collaboration with related laboratories in physics,
chemistry, materials science, using high-pressure facility at GRC.
One such successful example is the nano-polycrystalline diamond(NPD=HIME-DIA) invented by GRC, which was found to be thehardest material ever synthesized, and industrial and scientificapplications of this novel material has been pursued at GRC andrelated laboratories.
Theoretical mineral physics group is pursuing investigations ofultra-high pressure and high-temperature behaviors of Earth andplanetary materials and also related materials based primarily on thefirst principles computation techniques. Major interests are 1.
density functional computation of complex minerals and relatedmaterials and their physiscal properties (structural property,
thermodynamics, elasticity, etc. of major lower mantle and corephases). 2. development of fundamental methods for calculation
techniques, 3. theory of materials at extreme condition, 4. Earth's
structure and dynamics. The group's recent achievements include
quite important post-perovskite transition in MgSiO3,
pressure-induced spin transition of iron in ferropericlase, P-V-T
equations of state of major materials, dense structures, melt, ironalloy, etc. The method is now extended to solid-solution
thermodynamics, and these studies have drastically advanced ourunderstanding of the Earth's deep mantle mineralogy. This group is
now updating the GRC parallel computing system. New cluster
system has approximately 400 cores and 400 GB memory in total
with quad-core Xeon processors. See web site for further
information on the research activity of the group(http://www.sci.ehime-u.ac.jp/~takut/index_e.html).
Mantle and core dynamics group also uses parallel computing
system, as well as super computers such as Earth Simulator, tosimulate dynamics of the whole mantle, mantle-core boundary, andouter core of the Earth, based on fluid dynamics and other physics
disciplines. Development of cutting-edge computational techniques
relevant to dynamics and evolution of the Earth is also a major
research subject of this group.
Physical parameters obtained byboth experimental and theoreticalmineral physics groups are used tosimulate various phenomena inEarth’s and planetary deep
interiors.
Correspondence:Prof. Tetsuo Irifune(irifune@dpc.ehime-u.ac.jp)

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TANDEM Laboratories
Laboratory of High Pressure Science & Technology(HPST) , Sichuan University
Sichuan University (SCU) is a national key university directly
under the State Ministry of Education. As the largest university inthe west of China, SCU has a history of more than 110 years andenjoys a deep cultural background and eminent scholarly researchtradition. It has 2 national key labs, 6 national engineering centers, 5ministerial key labs, 35 provincial key labs, 10 ministerial andprovincial centers, 4 key research bases for humanities and social
sciences, and 4 clinical research bases at the national level. Besides,
it has 12 first-class disciplines to grant Doctor’s degree and Master’s
degree, 111 second-class disciplines to grant Doctor’s degree, 178
Master programs, 6 specialized degree programs, and 16 post-doctor
stations. The 109 bachelor programs cover the major fields in liberal
arts, sciences, engineering, medicine and agriculture. SCU has acurrent student population of more than 70 thousands.
The Laboratory of High Pressure Science & Technology (HPST)
was supported by the Atomic and Molecular Physics Institute of
SCU. The predecessor of the HPST laboratory was the High
Temperature and High Pressure Physics Institute, which wasestablished by Chengdu University of Science and Technology (nowis SCU) and Fluid Physics Institute of China Academy ofEngineering Physics in 1983. The HPST began to recruit graduate
students for master and doctoral degree majored in Atomic andMolecular Physics since 1985. In 2006, it began to recruit graduate
students for master and doctoral degree majored in High Pressure &Technology, which is the earliest specialty in China.
The HPST original main purpose was to provide a platform on the
research and application of the dynamic and static high pressure. It
is one of the earliest labs to perform the research on the synthesis of
made-made diamond and cBN. Currently, its researches are mainly
focusing on novel superhard materials, solidification and crystal
growth at high pressure, non-crystalline materials and new energy
materials, elastic moduli and strength of strong materials under highpressure as well as development of technology for large volume
press.

The laboratory currently houses a two-stage gas gun, 6×800 ton
cubic press, and 6×2500 ton cubic press. The two-stage gas gun can
generate the pressure up to 300 GPa, the 6×800 ton cubic press
equipped with self-designed 6-8 two-stage apparatus can enhanceothe P/T condition up to 25 GPa/2000 C, and the 6×2500 ton cubicpress is currently the largest tonnage high-pressure apparatus inlaboratories of the world. In addition to those high P/T apparatus,
the HPST is also equipped with X-ray diffraction apparatus(DX2500), Vickers hardness tester (FV700), and high vacuum
furnace system (WZB-20), Numerical Control Machine, etc.
Professor Duanwei He is the head of the HPST. There are
currently 5 faculties, 6 PhD students and about 20 master students in
the group. The HPST has a weekly seminar on a regular basis, andalways welcomes speakers and audience from outside thelaboratory.
The laboratory always contributes zealously to the international
corporations. Last century, Professor Masao Wakatsuki, the first
person to successfully grow the synthetic diamond in Japan, hasbeen invited as the visiting professor of the HPST laboratory. The
two laboratories have exchange scholar programs and also
accomplished two joint projects sponsored by Japan Ministry of
Education, Science and Culture. At present, the laboratory iscollaborating actively with many other international researchlaboratories in high-pressure fields including Geodynamics
Research Center (GRC) at Ehime University, Geosciences
department at Princeton University, LANSCE division at Los
Alamos National Laboratory, etc. We look forward to establishingclose and sustained collaborations with any interested individual orlaboratories of the TANDEM on high-pressure researches andtraining of young scientists and graduate students.
Correspondence: Prof. Duanwei He (duanweihe@scu.edu.cn)

Global COE Newsletter, issued Jan., May and Sep.
Geodynamics Research Center, Ehime University
2-5 Bunkyo-cho, Matsuyama 790-8577, Japan
Tel & Fax : +81-89-927-8405
E-mail : g-coe@sci.ehime-u.ac.jp
URL: http://deep-earth-mineralogy.jp/
Edited by Akira Yamada and Tomo Ohkuma
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