Neil Bennett

Tel: 202-602-9728 Email: nbennettgeo@gmail.com

Education and Employment

2017 – Present: Visiting Scientist, Department of Earth and Planetary Science, UC Davis. Hosted by Prof. Charles Lesher.

2017: Postdoctoral Associate at the Geophysical Lab, CarnegieInstitution of Washington.

2013 – 2016: Postdoctoral Fellow at the Geophysical Lab, Carnegie Institution of Washington.

2008 – 2013: PhD in Geology at The University of Toronto. Thesis title: The solubility and metal-silicate partitioning of some highly siderophile elements: Implications for core-formation and planetary accretion.

2004 – 2008: MSci (hons, 1st class) in Geology at The University of Birmingham (undergraduate masters program). Thesis title: The magnetic fabric of the W. Mourne Granite, N. Ireland, and its implications for shallow crustal level magma emplacement.

2007: Junior Geologist – Nunaminerals: Field season in Greenland. Responsible for hard-rock and sediment sampling, mapping, core-logging, and flight camp management. Exploration targets included prospective Au and rare earth element deposits.

Research Interests

Experimental petrology, high pressure and temperature geochemistry, trace element speciation and partitioning in magmatic systems, planetary accretion and differentiation.

Scholarships, Grants and Awards

2013 – 2015: Barbara McClintock Postdoctoral Fellowship, Carnegie Institution of Washington.

2008 – 2013: Connaught Scholarship, University of Toronto School of Graduate Studies.

2011: GSA Graduate Student Research Grant; Soret Diffusion at the Core-Mantle Boundary.

2010: MSA Student Grant for Research in Mineralogy and Petrology; The Metal-Silicate Partitioning Behaviour of Re and Pt: Implications for Terrestrial Accretion and Core Formation.

2008: Undergraduate Science Award, University of Birmingham.

2008: Undergraduate Award for Single Honours Geology, University of Birmingham.

2006: Undergraduate Student Award in Mineral Science, Mineralogical Society of Great Britain & Ireland.

2006: Palaeontological Association Undergraduate Award.

Teaching Experience

Teaching responsibilities have included: lecture writing and delivery, oversight of lab sections, assisting students with lab exercises, supervision of students during fieldwork, exam writing, marking of exams and coursework, project design and supervision of a summer research fellow.

Teaching Assistantships

2008, 2009, 2011: Igneous and Metamorphic Petrology

2012: Capstone Field Course – Newfoundland & Labrador

2009 - 2012: Introduction to Field Mapping – Ontario

2008, 2009: Introduction to Mineralogy

2010: Structural Geology

2010: Introductory Geology Supervisory Roles

2012: NSERC Summer Research Student: Assistant Supervisor.

Manuscripts in Preparation

Bennett, N. R., Jackson, C. R. M., Du, Z., Fei, Y. In Prep. The metal-silicate partitioning of tungsten at high-pressure: Implications for the tungsten isotope heterogeneity of plume mantle.

Lesher, C. E., Brenan, J. M., Glessner, J., Barfod, G. H., Bennett, N. R., Lacks, D. In Prep. Iron isotope fractionation at the core-mantle boundary.

Submitted and Peer-Reviewed Publications

Bennett, N. R. & Fei, Y. 2018 Accepted. Pressure, sulfur and metalsilicate partitioning: The effect of sulfur species on the parameterization of experimental results. American Mineralogist, 103, 1068-1079.

Sio, K. I., Roskosz, M., Dauphas, N., Bennett, N. R., Mock, T., Shahar, A. In Revision. The isotope effect for Mg-Fe interdiffusion in olivine and its dependence on crystal orientation, composition and temperature. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta.

Jackson, C. R. M., Bennett, N. R., Du, Z., Cottrell, E., Fei, Y. 2018. Early Episodes of High-Pressure Core Formation Preserved in Plume Mantle. Nature, 553, 491-495.

Du, Z., Jackson, C. R. M., Bennett, N. R., Driscoll, P., Fei, Y., Deng, J., Lee, K., Greenberg, E., Prakapenka, V. 2017.Insufficient energy from MgO exsolution to power early geodynamo. Geophysical Research Letters, 44, 1-6.

Bennett, N. R., Brenan, J. M., Fei, Y. 2016. Magma ocean thermometry: Controls on the metal-silicate partitioning of gold, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 184, 173-192.

Brenan, J. M., Bennett, N. R., Zacjacz, Z. 2016. Experimental Results on Fractionation of the Highly Siderophile Elements (HSE) at Variable Pressures and Temperatures during Planetary and Magmatic Diferentiation, Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry, 81 (invited submission).

Bennett. N. R., Brenan, J. M., Fei, Y. 2015. Metal-silicate partitioning experiments at high pressure and temperature: Experimental methods and a procedure for the highly siderophile elements, Journal of Visualized Experiments, 100 (invited submission).

Bennett, N. R., Brenan, J. M., Koga, K. T. 2014. The solubility of platinum in silicate melt under reducing conditions: Results from experiments without metal inclusions, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 133, 422-442.

Smythe, D. J., Brenan, J. M., Bennett, N. R., Regier, T., Henderson, G. S. 2013. Quantitative determination of cerium oxidiation states in alkali-aluminosilicate glasses using M4,5-edge XANES, Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids, 378, 258-264.

Bennett, N. R. & Brenan, J. M. 2013. Controls on the solubility of rhenium in silicate melt: Implications for the osmium isotopic composition of Earth’s mantle, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 361, 320-332.

Stevenson, C. T. E. & Bennett, N. 2011. The emplacement of the Palaeogene Mourne Granite Centres, Northern Ireland: new results from the Western Mourne Centre. Journal of the Geological Society, 168, 831-836.

Brenan, J. M. & Bennett, N. 2010. Soret separation of highly siderophile elements in Fe–Ni–S melts: Implications for solid metal–liquid metal partitioning, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 298, 299-305.

Invited Talks

Bennett, N. R., Brenan, J. M., Fei, Y., Moore, J. Terrestrial accretion and core formation: Insights from the highly siderophile elements, Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, 2014.

Bennett, N. R., Brenan, J. M., Fei, Y. Metal-silicate partitioning: Consequences for the late-veneer and conditions of core metal segregation, University of Maryland, 2014.

Bennett, N. & Stevenson, C. T. Lateral Emplacement of the Western Mourne Granite, N.Ireland, From AMS Fabric Data, AGU Joint Assembly, 2009.

Selected Conference Abstracts

Bennett, N. R. & Fei, Y. Pressure, Sulfur and Metal-Silicate Partitioning: Does the Formation of Metal-Sulphur Species in Silicate Melt Affect the Parameterisation of Experimental Results? American Geophysical Union - Fall Meeting, 2016.

Bennett, N. R., Jackson, C. R. M., Du, Z., Fei, Z. Planetary Differentiation in the Laboratory: Methods for Metal-Silicate Partitioning Experiments in the Diamond Anvil Cell and their Application to Tungsten. Geological Society of America Annual Meeting, 2016.

Bennett, N. R., Fei, Y., Brenan, J. M. Conditions of Core Segregation Constrained by Metal-Silicate Partitioning

Experiments, Goldschmidt Conference, 2015.

Bennett, N. R. & Fei, Y. Element Redistribution in Fe-Ni-O Melts by a Thermal Gradient: Implications for Siderophile Element Partitioning During Core Formation and Crystallization, American Geophysical Union - Fall Meeting, 2014.

Bennett, N. R. & Brenan, J. M. Equilibrium Core Formation Loses it’s Lustre: High Pressure and Temperature Partitioning of Gold, Goldschmidt Conference, 2012.

Bennett, N. R & Brenan, J. M. Suppression of Metal Inclusions and the Effect of Carbon on Pt Solubility in Haplobasalt at High Pressure and Temperature, American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, 2011.

Bennett, N. R & Brenan, J. M. The Metal-Silicate Partitioning of Re & Pt: Constraining Mantle Os Isotope Systematics, Geological Association of Canada and Mineralogical Association of Canada Meeting, 2011.

Community Service

Reviewer for: Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, American Mineralogist, NERC Independent Research Fellowship Program, The German Research Foundation (DFG).

2015: Goldschmidt Conference, Session chair.

2011 – 2012: Association of Geology Graduate Students, President; University of Toronto.

2010 – 2011: ‘Rockfest’ seminar series organiser; University of Toronto.

2010 – 2011: Society of Economic Geologists, University of Toronto Chapter, committee member.

2009 – 2010: Prospectors and Developers Assoc. of Canada, conference volunteer.

2009: American Geophysical Union Joint Assembly, conference volunteer.

2005 – 2006: Lapworth Society, committee member; University of Birmingham.

2004 – 2008: UCAS Prospective Student Visits, volunteer; University of Birmingham.

Professional Associations

Geochemical Society, American Geophysical Union, Geological Society of America

Referees

Prof. James Brenan, Dalhousie University, 1450 Oxford Street, Halifax NS B3H 4R2. jbrenan@dal.ca, 902-494-6889

Dr. Anat Shahar, Geophysical Laboratory, Carnegie Institution of Washington, 5251 Broad Branch Road NW, Washington, DC 20015. ashahar@carnegiescience.edu, 202-478-8929

Dr. Yingwei Fei, Geophysical Laboratory, Carnegie Institution of Washington, 5251 Broad Branch Road NW, Washington, DC 20015. yfei@carnegiescience.edu, 202-478-8936