Event Details

Benoit Welsch, Macalester Visiting Scholar, will speak about Olivine.

"Olivine is a ubiquitous rock-forming mineral that can record a wide variety of dynamic processes during its lifetime. However, the details of its crystallization from a silicate melt are complex, specifically regarding crystal habits and growth kinetics.

"Olivine can develop a wide variety of crystal shapes depending on its crystallization environment, at growth rates spanning 10 orders of magnitude, from 10-16 m/s to 10-6 m/s and more. In this talk, I will present results of dynamic crystallization experiments using a heating stage microscope to investigate in situ the early stages of olivine crystal growth inside a plagioclase-hosted melt inclusion. I will also touch upon how large discrepancies between datasets can arise from a variety of methodological inconsistencies, limitations, and outright errors, as well as broad uncertainties regarding the timing and manner of crystal growth."