Apply for a summer research award

“Understanding formation conditions of dissolution textures on diamond and application to crystallization and eruption conditions of kimberlite magmas”.

Diamond is not only famous gem used in jewelry or the hardest material with many exceptional properties used in modern technological applications, but it is an extremely important mineral for understanding composition and evolution of our planet. As a second oldest mineral with exceptional mechanical and chemical stability, diamond records information about the Earth interior, carries it to the surface, and preserves during long periods of weathering and alteration on the Earth surface. The surface of natural diamonds shows a great variety of dissolution (and growth) features, which geometry depends on the conditions of diamond residence in the Earth interior. This project will use high-temperature experiments to understand crystallization conditions and eruption mechanism of kimberlite magma as recorded in the dissolution features on diamonds. Experiments will be conducted in the Experimental Petrology Laboratory at the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences. The experimental products will be characterized using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and Atomic Force Microscope (AFM).

This project has a possibility to be extended into MSc.

Please contact Prof. Fedortchouk with expression of interest and for more details (yana@dal.ca).
Prof. Fedortchouk’s website: https://dalhousiehighpressurelaboratory.weebly.com/prof-fedortchouk-research.html