Rock and Ice Mechanics Lab

Jacob studies the feedbacks between deformation processes and the transport/reaction kinetics in Earth and planetary bodies. He is currently gearing up the lab for carbon mineralization experiments as a form of CO2 mitigation, including installation of a wide array of AE sensors.

As a longtime lab technician, Ted keeps everything running smoothly and is spearheading the rehabilitation of old machinery and the design and fabrication of new capabilities, like gas mixing, L-block friction experiments and many more.

Catalina is interested in crustal rheology, fluid flow, geochemical reactions, and microstructure. She is heading up our Sloan-funded experiments on carbonization of mantle peridotite as a way of removing and safely storing CO2.

Seth is performing laboratory experiments to measure the dependence of ice-on-till friction as a function of temperature, till composition, basal pore pressure, and time-dependent forcing. The results should elucidate certain aspects of glacial sliding.

Vishaal studies ices in our solar system, including ice shell composition, surface age, and evolution. Under two NASA COLDTech grants, he is currently evaluating communication tethers at cryogenic and seismically hostile conditions for ocean world exploration.

Hatsuki is an expert on the properties that control seismic attenuation, including grain size, temperature, and partial melt (including pre-melt). Her work at Lamont is to additionally look at the effect of strain-induced dislocation structure and density on attenuation, using ice as an analog to upper mantle rock.

Mahi is studying the influence of partial melt (ice + ammonia) on friction and stability of faults on icy satellites like Enceladus. In particular, he is exploring frictional heating as a potential pathway for surface oxidants, which may shed light on habitability of these worlds.

Kristin (Kris) is studying the physics of firn compaction and its rheology through experiments and numerical models to answer how firn compaction depends on physical parameters (density, temperature, stress). They are broadly interested in geophysical behavior and how material properties/microstructure, and vice versa, influence large scale processes.

Xinyang is interested in geochemistry, mineralogy, and carbon capture, storage, and utilization, especially in carbon mineralization. He worked on reconstructing East African paleoclimate using stromatolites collected from Lake Abhe and Lake Turkana at Syracuse and is now working on the carbon mineralization project.

Clare is a CU Engineering student helping us with design and fabrication of instruments for ice research. In particular she is working on a study of ice friction at enhanced g with colleagues in Carleton Labs.

Sofya will be working on characterization of ice samples in the lab, in particular helping Dr. Yamauchi to identify strain-induced dislocations using a sample-mold technique and SEM imaging.

Tyler is conducting simulations of shallow earthquakes in subduction zones to help understand how different and complex types of fault zone behaviors, such as tsunami earthquakes and slow slip events occur.