EARTH 520
Plate Tectonics and People

Raymond Jeanloz

Print Print

Biographic Information

Dr. Jeanloz is a native of Massachusetts who completed his college work at Deep Springs College, Amherst College (Where he earned a BA in 1975) and Caltech, from where he earned his PhD in 1979. He is a professor of earth and planetary science and of astronomy at the University of California, Berkeley. His education at Deep Springs College is its remote isolation, located in a depression between two mountain ranges. The isolation plays a significant role in the student’s educational experience.  

Contributions to plate tectonic theory and/or geophysics

Dr. Jeanloz’s field of study focuses on the dynamics of planetary interiors. He was part of team which led the way to collect temperature data of the Earth’s center. What is also significant to his role of plate tectonics is that the deeper portions of the mantle chemically react with the liquid allow of the outer core which explains the core-mantle boundary being one of Earth’s most dynamic regions.

Dr. Jeanloz worked early in his career as a student of earth's interior. He participated in research conducted on planetary differentiation, specifically on how the core was formed. From these early studies, he referenced how it was possible that the convection that occurs in the mantle began well before Earth was full developed. 

His extensive research includes working as a ultra-high-pressure experimentalist. This research focused on the heat that comes from the inside of the Earth's core, describing it as “a dynamic boundary between the rapidly convecting outer core and the slowly convecting mantle”. There are studies surrounding the activity between the core-mantle boundary. The heat implications for how Earth works. Working with Dr. Knittle,  both discovered that at the boundary of the core and the mantle, there is a significant temperature increase. (This is roughly around 3000k from the crust).  And as you can imaging, the closer to the core, an increase in density is evident, with a pressure (measured) of exactly 166 gigapascals, “almost 1.4 million times the pressure at the surface,” explains Knittle.

Other scientific contributions

His significant interest in understanding the composition of the Earth’s and the behavior of its material at both high pressures and temperatures lead Dr. Jeanloz to investigate the conditions of other larger planets. His team is leading the way to understand the interiors of the large exoplanets, such as Neptune and Jupiter, which they suspect has an interior raining with diamonds.

These large planets contain lots of methane, which, when compressed at high temps and pressure, could make diamonds. In order to make the idea a reality, his team of researchers simulated the conditions using a focused laser beam on pressurized liquid methane, heating it 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The result was the presence of  diamond dust.

Years later, again, he and his team used powerful laser beams from the NIF laser – which is the largest on Earth -- to re-created conditions that exist deep in the cores of the solar system's giant planets. Using synthetic diamonds as a test base, these scientists focused laser energy to generate an artificial “gravity” that compresses the diamonds under extreme pressures. This pressure is well over 50 million times greater that the atmosphere of the earth.

“In this experiment the scientists focused on conditions inside Jupiter and Saturn; next step will be Uranus and Neptune,” Jeanloz said.

The Images above are of the inner most chamber of the NIF laser.

possible structure of Neptune

The image to the left show the presumed interior structure of Neptune.

One approach his team took to study the possibility of diamonds in Neptune lead them to apply very high pressure to  liquid nitrogen-cooled methane.  Then they heated the sample, using an infrared laser, to temperatures between 2,000 to 3,000 Kelvin.  

Other cool stuff you should know

Raymond Jeanloz is currently a professor in Earth and Planetary Science and Astronomy at the University of California at Berkeley. He chairs  the Committee on International Security and Arms control, division of Policy and Global Affairs with the National Academy of Science.

Here is the link: http://sites.nationalacademies.org/PGA/cisac/PGA_048467

Dr. Jeanloz is part of the prestigious MacArthur fellowship class of 1988, earning a genius grant in science.  His additional accolades include:

Bibliography

http://wn.com/raymond_jeanloz

http://www.minsocam.org/ammin/AM74/AM74_719.pdf

http://astro.berkeley.edu/people/faculty/jeanloz.html

http://sites.nationalacademies.org/cs/groups/pgasite/documents/webpage/pga_049745.pdf

http://fas.org/press/news/2008/sept_hansbetheaward.html

http://www.armscontrol.org/system/files/Reykjavik%20Revisited%20-%20Jeanloz%20%5Bch11%5D.pdf

http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/10175/title/MacArt...

http://www.spacedaily.com/news/carbon-99d.html