The Earth and Planetary Materials group studies the evolution of materials during the formation of the solar system and the dynamics of planetary bodies. The team applies concepts and methods from materials science and physical metallurgy to problems relevant for the origin and the evolution of planets.

The team is expert at the study of mineral and rock microstructures and their evolution (crystal defects, phase transitions, transport properties, etc). We rely on the electron microscopy platform of the université de Lille, which we run and manage, as well as an experimental platform consisting of a synthesis and thermal annealing lab for the study of silicates at ambient pressure, and a high pressure laboratory, with a piston-cylinder press and diamond anvil cells. These facilities allow us to cover the full range of pressures of the Earth's interior (mantle and core).

Current projets

• Origin of materials in the solar system

  • Transmission electron microscopy
  • Laboratory analogues (alteration, thermal anhealing)

  Contacts: Corentin Le Guillou, Christophe Depecker, Damien Jacob, Hugues Leroux

• High pressure microstructures and deformation: large scale facilities

  Contacts: Sébastien Merkel, Paul Raterron, Nadège Hilairet, Julien Chantel

• Polycrystal behavior: numerical models

  Contacts: Sébastien Merkel, Nadège Hilairet

• OH and atomic diffusion in minerals

  Contacts: Jannick Ingrin, Christophe Depecker

Thesis defended since 2006

• THOMAIDIS Konstantinos (2022): Do mantle xenoliths preserved water signature from the lithospheric mantle and how ? An experimental et numerical approach
• LEDOUX Estelle (2021): Transformation and deformation microstructures in the Earth mantle: application to periclase and wadsleyite
• ZANETTA Pierre-Marie (2019): Study of the accretion of the firsts solids of our solar system using advanced electron microscopy
• Ngassa Tankeu Yvan Georges (2018): Structural analysis of mineralogical oxydes at the nanometric scale using quantitative electron diffraction
• Stephan Baptiste (2018): A kinetic and microstructural study of order-disorder transformation in Ni2Cr alloys with low iron content
• Langrand Christopher (2017): Experimental Study of Perovskite / Post-Perovskite Phase Transformation Mechanism and its Kinetics in the Earth Mantle
• Incel Sarah (2017): Experimental constrains on rheology during metamorphic reactions (thèse ENS Paris)
• Chen Huan (2017): The role of the Pacific subduction in the genesis of Cenozoic basalts in eastern China: New constrains from water content and oxygen isotope composition
• Ferrand Thomas (2017): Reproduction of experimental analogues of intermediate depth earthquakes through antigorite dehydration and comparison to natural pseudotachylites (thèse ENS Paris)
• Gu Xiaoyan (2016): Melt-rock interaction signatures in peridotite from sub-continental mantle (French Massif Central) : A trace element, H, Li and δ7Li approach (thèse de l'université de Lorraine)
• Bellino Guillaume (2015): Analytical transmission electron microscopy study of unmelted and partially melted chondrules in primitive ordinary chondrites
• Zhang Peipei (2015): Hydrogen diffusion in NAMs : andradite garnet and zircon
• Laurent Boris (2014): Hydrogen fractionation induced by ionizing irradiation of protoplanetary dust analogs
• Cuvillier Priscille (2014): Quantitative analysis of diffusion phenomena in meteorite samples. Transmission electron microscopy study.
• Vigouroux Eric (2014): Hydrogen diffusivity in wadsleyite : estimation of the water content in the transition zone of the earth's mantle
• Lincot Ainhoa (2013): Direct models of seismic anisotropie in the Earth inner core and study of textures induced by the α-ε transition in iron
• Bollinger Caroline (2013): Rheology of polycrystalline olivine under upper mantle conditions: an in-situ study in the D-DIA
• Nisr Carole (2011): In-situ characterization of dislocations in minerals under high pressure
• Gillot Jessy (2010): Synthesis and crystallization of porous amorphous silicates in the MgO-CaO-SiO2 ternary: application the amorphous-crystal transition in accretion disks
• Stodolna Julien (2010): Transmission electron microscopy study of cometary samples from the Startdust mission
• Amiguet Elodie (2009): Experimental deformation of diopside in the pressure and temperature conditions of the upper mantle
• Davoisne Carinne (2006): Evolution des silicates dans les milieux interstellaires, circumstellaires et cométaires : le rôle de l’irradiation et de la température