EPS Colloquium – Liz Cottrell, Smithsonian NMNH

Mantle Redox Through Time

Oxidation–reduction reactions in the mantle affect important mantle processes, such as depth of melting, extraction of volatiles to the atmosphere, crustal composition, and ore body generation. Debate continues over past variations in mantle redox (to mean oxygen fugacity and(or) the ratio of oxidized to reduced species in the mantle). A new proxy using the redox-sensitive element vanadium, especially in combination with other datasets, shows no conclusive evidence for oxidation of the ambient mantle since the Archaean, with implications for the mantle’s role in the GOE. Mechanisms to oxidize the mantle during the Hadean are rapidly evolving and hotly debated.

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Liz Cottrell received her bachelor of science degree in geochemistry from Brown University. She then spent a year as a Fulbright scholar in Paris, France, at L’Institute de Physique du Globe. Liz obtained her PhD at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and, after a short postdoctoral fellowship at Carnegie’s Geophysical Laboratory, she joined the Department of Mineral Sciences at Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. She curates the National Rock and Ore Collection and presently serves as department chair.