Viktoria Trautner

I’m a DPhil student, combining experimental mineral physics and computational seismology to study mineral properties in Earth’s lower mantle under the supervision of Hauke Marquardt and Paula Koelemeijer. My main scientific interests lie in the formation, evolution and present-day structure of planetary interiors.

For my research, I use high-pressure/high-temperature experimental techniques to study the iron spin crossover in (Mg,Fe)O ferropericlase, the second most abundant mineral in Earth’s deep interior. The extremely high pressures in the lower mantle cause a change in the electronic configuration of iron ions in ferropericlase. At the temperature conditions of the lower mantle, this so-called spin crossover extends over depths of hundreds of kilometers and has profound effects on mineral properties.

The primary aims of my project are to map out the spin crossover in ferropericlase in temperature-pressure-composition space, and to resolve its effects on mantle physical properties and geophysical observables, such as seismic wave velocities. To do this, I use diamond-anvil cells to conduct experiments at pressures and temperatures of the lower mantle, coupled with x-ray diffraction measurements at large-scale synchrotron facilities. I then seek to incorporate the experimental results in seismic velocity models and use them to interpret geophysical observations, by running global seismic wave propagation simulations. This will help to get a more accurate and quantitative understanding of the physical and chemical properties of the deep Earth.

My work is funded by the ERC, as part of the DEEP-MAPS project led by Hauke Marquardt.

Before coming to Oxford in January 2021, I did my BSc and MSc in Earth Sciences at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. For my Master’s, I modelled partial melting of mixed Lunar Magma Ocean cumulates using piston-cylinder press experiments, to place constraints on the formation of lunar high-Ti magmas. During my BSc research project, also in the field of experimental petrology, I worked on trace element partitioning in reducing planetary bodies like Mercury.

Please feel free to get in touch, if there’s anything you would like to ask me!