Carnegie Science
Introducing davemaoite: A groundbreaking mineral discovery named after trailblazing Carnegie geophysicist
The first-ever silicate mineral recovered from the Earth’s lower mantle has been named after emeritus Carnegie scientist Ho-kwang “Dave” Mao, an experimental geophysicist whose work redefined our understanding of how materials behave under the extreme pressure and temperature conditions found inside Earth and other planets.
A team led by the University of Nevada Las Vegas’ Oliver Tschauner reported the discovery in Science this week and Carnegie’s Yingwei Fei wrote an accompanying essay in the same issue, contextualizing the importance of the work and the significance of the chosen name—davemaoite.
In 1976 Mao and colleagues were the first to bring materials to a million times atmospheric pressure, doubling the previous pressure limit. This momentous breakthrough transformed our understanding of the chemistry of Earth’s interior and behavior of materials under extreme pressure. Over a career spanning five decades he continually redefined the boundaries of pressure at which materials could be probed, and his discoveries had implications for understanding the chemistry and physics occurring deep below Earth’s surface, our planet’s evolutionary history, the interior dynamics of distant worlds, and materials science.
Many materials that form under extreme pressures cannot retain their structures when brought to ambient conditions, which is what makes this discovery so exciting. Davemaoite, which was discovered encased inside a super-deep diamond, is only the second high-pressure mantle silicate ever seen on Earth’s surface. The other, named after Nobel laureate Percy Bridgman, was found inside a meteorite.
More:
https://carnegiescience.edu/news/introducing-davemaoite-groundbreaking-mineral-discovery-named-after-trailblazing-carnegie
