Peter B. Kelemen
Recently, I have added CO2 capture and storage via in situ mineral carbonation to my research program. It is a reactive transport problem, very similar to the work I've done on reactive transport of melt in the upper mantle and lower crust, there are fantastic field areas where active, ongoing mineral carbonation can be observed, and the topic has obvious societal relevance.
For decades, my primary research interest has been in the genesis and evolution of the Earth's crust in the ocean basins, in arcs, and in continents. I approach this topic from the perspective that reactions between melt and rock during transport through the upper mantle are as important as melting, mixing, and crystal fractionation processes in producing different crustal bulk compositions in different tectonic settings. In an ongoing effort, I've tried to develop a general theory that explains how reactive melt transport varies along different geothermal gradients, with, 1. mineral dissolution and focusing of flow into high permeability channels in hot, upwelling mantle, 2. diffuse flow where there is a low melt flux into conductively cooled, shallow mantle, and, 3. hydrofracture where high melt flux and crystallization due to cooling clog porosity, leading to ponding of magma and increasing melt pressure.
I've been very fortunate to work with a large number of tolerant geophysicists (Jack Whitehead, Einat Aharonov, Steve Holbrook, Marc Spiegelman, Greg Hirth, Jun Korenaga, Matthew Jull, and others) who have led me into the world of geodynamics. I am grateful to them all, particularly Greg Hirth, with whom I have been able to pursue interdisciplinary studies.
Finally, not that long ago, I was a founding partner of Dihedral Exploration, mineral exploration consultants specializing in field work requiring technical climbing skills. Searching for ore deposits took me to British Columbia, Alaska and Greenland. I'd plan to resume teaching about ore deposit geology, and mineral resource use in general, in the context of responsible use in the 21st century.
Selected Recent Publications
Kelemen, P.B., 2009, The origin of the land under the sea: Scientific American, v. 300, no. 2, p. 52-57.
Kelemen, P.B., and Matter, J., 2008, In situ mineral carbonation in peridotite for CO2 storage: Proc. National Acad. Sci. (US), v. 105, p. 17,295-17,300.
Warren, J.M., Hirth, G., and Kelemen, P.B., 2008, Evolution of olivine lattice preferred orientation during simple shear in the mantle: Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., v. 272, p. 501-512.
VanTongeren, J.A., Kelemen, P.B., and Hanghøj, K., 2008, Cooling rates in the lower crust of the Oman ophiolite: Ca in olivine, revisited: Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., v. 267, p. 69-82.
Bernstein, S., Kelemen, P.B., and Hanghøj, K., 2007, Depleted cratonic mantle is residue from melting of upwelling mantle in the Archaean: Geology, v. 35, p. 459-462.
Kelemen, P.B., and Hirth, G., 2007, A periodic shear-heating mechanism for intermediate-depth earthquakes in the mantle: Nature, v. 446, p. 787-790.
Kelemen, P.B., Kikawa, E., Miller, D.J., and Party, S.S., 2007, Leg 209 summary: Processes in a 20-km-thick conductive boundary layer beneath the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, 14°–16°N, in Kelemen, P.B., Kikawa, E., and Miller, D.J., eds., Proc. ODP, Sci. Results, 209: College Station TX, ODP, p. 1–33.Yogodzinski, G.M., and Kelemen, P.B., 2007, Trace elements in clinopyroxenes from Aleutian xenoliths: Implications for primitive subduction magmatism in an island arc: Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., v. 256, p. 617-632.