MAGNESIUM ISOTOPE GEOCHEMISTRY: BASICS AND APPLICATIONS
The distribution of elements and isotopes in the Earth is important for understanding its formation and evolution. Compared to the “building block” of the Earth, i.e., chondrites, the Earth is highly heterogeneous, with a thin felsic crust, thick mafic mantle, liquid outer core and solid inner core, in addition to atmosphere, biosphere and hydrosphere. The extent to which these different reservoirs interact with each other and evolve over time is still not well-constrained. In this talk, I will discuss how Mg isotopes can be used to constrain interactions among hydrosphere, continent and mantle, and how Mg isotopes can be potentially used as geothermometry and geospeedometry to study igneous and metamorphic processes.