Home , Go Back to faculty page DAVID L. KOHLSTEDT I.T. Distinguished Professor and Head, N.H. Winchell School of Earth Sciences PhD, 1970, University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign Research Group Web Page: Rock and Mineral Physics Laboratory Office: 106 Pillsbury Hall Phone: (612) 624-7311 Fax: (612) 625-3819 Email: dlkohl@...

        My research explores the mechanical properties of rocks on Earth and other planets. Physical and chemical properties of rocks and minerals govern the geodynamic behavior and geochemical evolution of planetary bodies. Currently, my students and I are uncovering spectacular effects of water and melt on viscosity of lower crustal and upper mantle rocks and finding enormous influences of water on diffusion in silicate minerals.

        To produce many cubic kilometers of basalt each year in Iceland and other localities along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, melt generated at depths as great as 100 km must be focused into a zone less than 1 km wide. Our laboratory experiments determine the nature of the 3-D melt topology under mantle conditions. In an exciting series of shear experiments, we have discovered that melt channels align in exactly the right orientation to function as high permeability pathways for melt beneath a ridge axis. These melt channels also dramatically increase the attenuation and decrease the velocity of seismic waves in active spreading centers.

        Images from the Magellan mission demonstrate that the plate tectonic system on Earth is totally absent on Venus. The surface of Venus appears to change in a catastrophic manner, appearing nearly quiescent for hundreds of millions of years before abruptly overturning and completely resurfacing. The differences in tectonic styles on these 'twin' planets result directly from the anhydrous nature of the Venusian crust and the nearly complete dehydration of the Venusian interior. Our deformation experiments compare flow under hydrous conditions as found on Earth with flow under anhydrous conditions which simulate the environment on Venus; our main goal is to provide crucial constraints on the geodynamic behavior of terrestrial planets.

Professional Society Memberships

• American Geophysical Union, Fellow
• American Ceramic Society
• Mineralogical Society of America

• 2000-present, Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Science
• 2003, Harry H. Hess Medal, American Geophysical Union
• 2004, Alumni Achievement Award, Valparaiso University
• 2005, Moore Distinguished Scholar, Geological and Planetary Sciences, Caltech
• 2005 Louis Néel Medalist of the European Geosciences Union

• Solid-Earth Geophysics I
• Geodynamics II: The Fluid Earth
• Mineral and Rock Physcs
• Seminars: Diffusion in Minerals, Grain Boundaries in Rocks, Melt Migration in the Mantle

• Holtzman, B.K., D.L. Kohlstedt, M.E. Zimmerman, F. Heidelbach, T. Hiraga, and J. Hustoft, Melt segregation and strain partitioning: implications for seismic anisotropy and mantle flow, Science 301:1227-1230 (2003).
• Hirth, G. and D.L. Kohlstedt, Rheology of the upper mantle and the mantle wedge: a biew from the experimentalists, in Inside the Subduction Factory, Hirth, G., and D. Kohlstedt, edited by J. Eiler, Geophysical Monograph 138, 83-105, American Geophysical Union, Washington, D.C. (2003).
• Hiraga, T., I.M. Anderson, and D.L. Kohlstedt, Partitioning in mantle rocks: grain boundaries as reservoirs of incompatible elements, Nature 427:699-703 (2004).
• Xu, Y., M.E. Zimmerman, and D.L. Kohlstedt, Deformation behavior of partially molten mantle rocks, Rheology and Deformation of the Lithosphere at Continental Margins: MARGINS Theoretical and Experimental Earth Science Series. Volume I eds. G.D. Karner, N.W. Driscoll, B. Taylor and D.L. Kohlstedt, Columbia University Press, 284-310, (2004).
• Zimmerman, M.E. and D.L. Kohlstedt, Rheological properties of partially molten lherzolite, J. Petrol. 45:275-298 (2004).
• Zhao, Y.-H., S.G. Ginsberg, and D.L. Kohlstedt, Solubility of hydrogen in olivine: effects of temperature and Fe content, Contrib. Mineral. Petrol. 147:155-161, doi:10.1007/s00410-003-0524-4 (2004).
• Hier-Majumder, S., P.H. Leo, and D.L. Kohlstedt, On grain boundary wetting during deformation, Acta Mater. 52:3425-3433 (2004).
• Hier-Majumder, S., I.M. Anderson, and D.L. Kohlstedt, Influence of protons on Fe-Mg interdiffusion in olivine, J. Geophys. Res., 110, B02202, doi:10.1029/2004JB003292 (2005).
• Hier-Majumder, S., S. Mei. and D.L. Kohlstedt, Water weakening of clinopyroxene in the diffusion creep regime, J. Geophys. Res. 110:1-12, B07406, doi:10.1029/2004JB003414 (2005).
• Holtzman, B.K., D.L. Kohlstedt, and J. Phipps Morgan, Viscous energy dissipation and strain partitioning in partially molten rocks, J. Petrol., 1-24 doi:10.1093/petrology/egi065 (2005).

• 3/2002 to 2/2006, NSF, Travel Grant Supplement - Evolution of melt distribution during deformation of partially molten rocks: Implications for geodynamical processes
• 8/2003 to 7/2006, NSF - MRI Program, Acquisition of a high-resolution transmission electron microscope to enhance research and training in nano-characterization of natural and synthetic materials
• 12/2003 to 11/2006, NSF, Channelizing Melt during Deformation of Partially Molten Rocks with Application to Mid-Ocean Ridges
• 12/2003 to 11/2006, US DOE, Rheology of Earth's Interior: experimental investigation to pressures of 15 GPA using the deformation-DIA
• 4/2004 to 3/2007, NASA, Rheological Behavior of Planetary Materials Stress Driven Segregation of Core-forming Melts
• 7/2004-6/2005, LPI, Rheological properties of mantle rocks with application to Venus and Io
• 7/2004 to 6/2007, NSF, Chemistry and structure of grain boundaries: Importance for trace element storage and transport in the mantle
• 2/2005 to 1/2008, NSF, Continued investigation of rheological behavior of clinopyroxene and clinopyroxene-olivine aggregates under hydrous conditions: Implications for crustal and mantle dynamics
• 4/2005 to 3/2006, NSF, Capital Equipment Supplement to Rheological Behavior of Planetary Materials

• Ted Scott, MS, 2000, Lattice-Boltzmann Calculation of Permeability of MORB in Peridotite
• Nathan Groebner, MS, 2000, Effect of Deformation on Grain-Scale Distribution of Core-Forming Melt
• Susan Ginsberg, PhD, 2000, Deformation of Diabase with Application to the Tectonics of Earth and Venus
• Zhongyan Wang, PhD, 2002, Effects of Pressure and Water on the Kinetic Properties of Olivine
• Benjamin Holtzman, PhD, 2003, The Interactions of Deformation and Melt Migration in the Earth
• Saswata Hier-Majumder, PhD, 2004, On Kinetics of Matter Transport in Solid-Fluid Aggregates