Dynamic Processes of Material Transport and Transformation in the Earth's Interior: (Materials Science of Minerals and Rocks)

The knowledge on materials of the Earth's interior has largely increased during the last twenty years owing to the development of high-pressure and high­ temperature techniques for material syntheses. We have now reasonable ideas on the major constituents of down to the lower mantle the Earth's interior in connection to the velocities of seismic waves. However, the studies of the materials science on the Earth have practically confined within the scope of phase equilibria to date, aiming at the elucidation of the static state of the present Earth. Of course, it is the ultimate goal for the earth-scientists to reveal the process of formation of the Earth and the subsequent changes occuring to the present. With the intention to approach this goal, a research program titled "Dynamic Processes of Material Transport and Transformation in the Earth's Interior" was organized in 1985 under the collaboration of geoscientists, material-scientists, physicists and chemists. The program was took effect during the period from 1986 to 1988 with the support of Grant-in-Aids for Special Research Project of the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture. Eleven research groups were organized and more than one hundred scientists contributed in this project. The field covered by the project ranged from the atomic scale changes in individual minerals to the large scale transport and transformation of materials concerned with the dynamics of magma and mantle materials.

Table of Contents:
l: Physics and Chemistry of Rock Forming Minerals.- 1.1 Theoretical Approach to Structures and Properties of Silicate Minerals.- 1.1.1 Molecular Dynamics Simulation of Silica with a First-Principles Interatomic Potential.- 1.1.2 First-Principles Electronic Theory on a Possible High-Pressure Phase of Silica.- 1.2 Structures and Properties of Silicate Melts.- 1.2.1 Structure of Silicate Melts Determined by X-Ray Diffraction.- 1.2.2 Coordinations of Transition Metals in Amorphous Silicates.- 1.2.3 Physical Properties of Silicate Melts.- 1.2.4 Electrochemistry of Silicate Melts.- 1.3 Chemistry of Hydrothermal Solutions.- 1.3.1 Sulfide Complexes Dissolved in Hydrothermal Solutions-Solubility Studies on Ag2S and ZnS.- 1.3.2 Hydrothermal Synthesis of Pentlandite.- 1.3.3 Material Transfer During Metamorphic Processes: Experimental Approaches.- 2: In Situ Observation on Transformation of Rock-Forming Materials.- 2.1 In situ Observation of Nucleation, Growth and Dissolution of Crystals in Ordinary Temperature Aqueous Solutions and High Temperature Silicate Solutions.- 2.2 Electron Microscopic Studies of Defects and Transformation of Olivine and Pyroxenes.- 3: Evolution of the Earth’s Mantle.- 3.1 Crystal Structures of Mantle Minerals and Their Implications for Phase Transitions at High Pressures.- 3.2 Diffusion of Ions in Mantle Minerals at High Pressure and High Temperature.- 3.3 Thermodynamics and Stability Relations of Mantle Minerals.- 3.4 Melting Phase Relations of Mantle Peridotite up to 25 GPa: Speculations on the Origin and Evolution of the Earth’s Mantle.- 3.5 High Pressure Effect on the Melting Relation in the System Mg2SiO4-MgSiO3: Phase Transitions in the Constituent Phases and Differentiation by Melting in the Earth’s Mantle.- 3.6 Ultrahigh Pressure Melting andChemical Heterogeneity in the Deep Mantle.- 3.7 Melting Relations of an Anhydrous Abyssal Basalt at High Pressures.- 3.8 Numerical Experiments on Coupled Mantle Magmatism—Mantle Convection System as a Model Mantle Evolution.- 4: Evolution of Island Arc Crusts.- 4.1 Dynamics of Mixing between Mafic and Silicic Magmas: Evidence from Volcanic Rocks.- 4.2 Spatial Variations in the Composition of Island Arc Volcanics of Northern Japan.- 4.3 Geochemical Evolution in the Mantle Wedge.- 4.4 Origin of Fumarolic and Magmatic Waters in an Acid Volcano, Yake-Dake, Central Japan.- 4.5 Origin and Evolution of Water in Granitic Intrusions.- 4.6 Metamorphism in an Island Arc—The Japanese Islands.- 5: Dynamic Processes in Solar Nebula.- 5.1 Condensation and Sublimation of H2O Ice in Space.- 5.2 Vaporization and Condensation Experiments in the System Olivine—Hydrogen.- 5.3 Experimental Studies of Fractional Condensation and Vaporization in the Primitive Solar Nebula.- 5.4 Condensation in the Primitive Solar Nebula.

Review :
' Anyhow, this book constitutes a 'milestone' of Japanese scientific achievement in a continuously evolving domain. It should be placed in every library devoted to mineral studies at high pressure and to dynamics of the earth interiors.' Eur. J. Mineral 4 1992