Phil
Skemer
Dept. of Earth and Planetary Sciences
Washington
University in St Louis
Campus Box 1169
1 Brookings Dr.
Saint Louis, MO 63130
pskemer@wustl.edu
(314) 935-3584
About Me
I am originally from New Jersey, and have spent almost my entire life on the i95 corridor. I am a recent and enthusiastic transplant to Washington University and the Saint Louis area, starting my current position in the summer of 2009. I love the city so far, although I draw the line at Provel cheese. I became a geologist on a chilly night in Zzyzx California, when I came to the sudden realization that I could make a career of looking at rocks in places like Zzyzx California.
updated 2/6/12
Research
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I'm interested in the physical properties of Earth and planetary materials. My research involves a mixture of experimental rock deformation and structural geology, with the objective of reconciling observations from both fields. The problems that interest me the most are the ones with broad implications for the large scale dynamics of Earth and other planets, from the initiation of plate tectonics to the dynamics of plumes and subducting slabs.
Deforming rocks experimentally requires a number of specialized tools to generate the requisite large forces and high temperatures. Typically, force is generated using a hydraulic or pneumatic actuator; high temperatures are generated using a resistance-heated furnace (like a household toaster).
The rock deformation lab at Washington University in Saint Louis currently has a Griggs-type apparatus, which is capable of deforming materials at pressures up to 2 GPa and temperatures up to ~1300 C, at strain-rates of 10-4 to 10-6 s-1. A second apparatus is in development, which will allow
deformation of materials to larger strains by using a torsion geometry, at pressures of up to 6 GPa. We have a variety of analytical facilities at our disposal, including an Electron Backscatter Diffraction (EBSD) system for conducting microstructural studies of naturally and experimentally deformed materials.
Join us! I am looking for a new graduate student to start in the Fall of 2012. If you have interest in geophysics, structural geology, or materials science, and enjoy working with your hands, take a look at the types of research we do in the Rock Deformation Lab. If you are interested in applying to our graduate program, more information is available here or feel free to contact me at pskemer@wustl.edu.
Recent Publications
Skemer P, Karato S-i (2008) Sheared lherzolite xenoliths revisited, Journal of Geophysical Research - Solid Earth, 113:B07205, doi:10.1029/2007JB005286
Karato S-i, Jung H, Katayama I, Skemer P, (2008) Geodynamic significance of seismic anisotropy of the upper mantle: New insights from laboratory studies, Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Science 36:59–95
CV
Publication List (with pdfs)
Teaching
EPSc 201 Earth and the Environment (Spring 2012)
EPSc 580 Deformation of Planetary Materials (Fall 2011)
EPSc 131 Natural Disasters (Spring 2011)
EPSc 595 Geophysics Seminar (Spring 2012)
EPSc 460 Introduction to Structural Geology (Fall 2010)
Software
Mindex_GUI.fig | Mindex_GUI.m -- A matlab based graphical user interface for calculating the M-index (Currently works for only seven Laue groups) Email me if you need others.