Resources for students and postdocs

Essential reading

Rock and Mineral Physics is a broad compilation of fields, much broader than any single textbook could cover. Below is a compilation of reading designed to cover the aspects of Rock and Mineral Physics that we focus on most at the University of Minnesota.

• Creep of Crystals by Jean-Paul Poirier

• Deformation of Earth Materials by Shun-ichiro Karato

• Deformation Mechanism Maps by Harold Frost and Michael Ashby

• Materials Science for Structural Geology by Mervyn Paterson

• Treatise on Geophysics. This is an extensive compilation of review papers that covers geophysics in general. Volume 2 is entirely on Mineral Physics. In particular, see:

  • 2.18 - Constitutive Equations, Rheological Behavior, and Viscosity of Rocks by David Kohlstedt and Lars Hansen

Expectations of group members

Here is a link to a working document that outlines expectations of students and postdocs working in the Rock and Mineral Physics Lab. 

Notes on scientific writing

Here is a link to a working document that provides guidance and tips on the process of scientific writing and scientific writing style. 

Resources for students and postdocs

Notes on scientific writing

Here is a link to a working document that provides guidance and tips on the process of scientific writing and scientific writing style.

Resources for related to rock deformation

A list of Paterson Apparatus around the world (ordered by serial number)

The Paterson Apparatus (of which we have two at UMN) is a key tool in the field of rock physics, providing both high pressures and temperatures and high-resolution mechanical data. Earlier versions of the Paterson Apparatus are housed at Australia National University. Below is a list of apparatus sold commerically by Australian Scientific Instruments. For more information about the life and contributions of Mervyn Paterson see this interview from 2006.

• (PI-1) High Temperature Rock Deformation - University of Manchester

• (PI-2) Petrophysics Laboratory - Montpellier

• (PI-3) Rock and Mineral Physics Laboratory - University of Minnesota

• (PI-4) Geomechanics and Rheology Group - GFZ

• (PI-5) Pec Group - MIT

• (PI-6) Experimental Rock Deformation Laboratory - ETH

• (PI-7) Geomechanics and Rheology Group - GFZ

• (PI-8) Institut des Sciences de la Terre d'Orléans

• (PI-9) Experimental Rock Deformation Laboratory - ETH

• (PI-10) Rock and Mineral Physics Laboratory - University of Minnesota

• (PI-11) Laboratoire de Physique des Materiaux - Universite de Poitiers

• (PI-12) Tectonophysics Group - Brown University

• (PI-13) Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry

Evaluation of mechanical data for different loading geometries

A common source of confusion and argument in the rock mechanics community surrounds comparison of mechanical data among experiments conducted with different loading geometries (e.g., torsion versus axial compression). Here is a link to a document describing the basic relationships we can use for these comparisons.

Resources for the curious

Videos from our group

• AGU talk by Lars Hansen from the 2021 Fall Meeting

  • Water does not influence the plasticity of olivine at low temperatures

• GSA talk by Harison Wiesman from the 2021 Meeting

  • ​​​​​​​Investigating the role of initial microstructural features on phase mixing and localization during deformation of olivine-bearing rocks

• Keynote Lecture by Lars Hansen at the 4th workshop of the CREEP ITN in Les Houches, France. 

  • Main achievements and burning issues regarding the rheology of the upper mantle

• Lectures on fluid dynamics as part of ESCI 3202

  • Lecture 2A - Continuum mechanics review, stress and strain

  • Lecture 2B - Continuum mechanics review, constitutive relationships

  • Lecture 2C - Continuum mechanics review, tensor quantitites

  • Lecture 3A - Viscosity of the upper mantle

  • Lecture 3B - Channel flow

  • Lecutre 3C - Couette flow and plate motion

  • Lecture 4A - Laminar flow and Reynolds number

  • Lecture 4B - Flow in an open channel down an incline

  • Lecture 6 - Stokes flow

  • Lecture 7A - Pressure-driven flow in a channel

  • Lecture 7B - Poiseuille flow

  • Lecture 8 - Flow through a porous medium

  • Lecture 9A - Convection and Rayleigh number

  • Lecture 9B - Convection in Earth vs. Mars

Bubble rafts as crystal analogs

Bubble rafts are wonderful and dynamic tools to visualize defects in crystalline materials. They were first described by Bragg and Nye (1947), and an accompanying video made by the authors is available on YouTube and embedded below.