Ulrich Faul

Associate Professor

Office: CAS 133
Phone: 617.358.4341
E-mail: ufaul@bu.edu
Uli’s Homepage

Educational Background

Ph.D. 1994 University of Oregon
B.Sc. 1986 Universitaet Ulm, Germany

Research

Ulrich Faul is interested in processes and properties of the Earth’s upper mantle from the grain scale to seismic tomography. He conducts laboratory experiments at high pressures and temperatures to quantify physical properties such as the rheology, seismic velocities, as well as the melt distribution in partially molten rocks. As a complement to the experimental program he also studies natural upper mantle rocks, for example, rocks drilled from the Mid-Atlantic ridge by the Ocean Drilling Program.

Geophysics research group
Solid Earth and Tectonics research group

Teaching

  • Core Curriculum Natural Science I (CC 105)
  • Structural Analysis of Rocks (ES 301)
  • Physics of Earth Materials (ES 831)

Recent Students

  • Gordana Siftar; PhD (current); Texture and Melt Distribution in Partially Molten Olivine

Selected Publications (*=student)

  • Wiens, D. A., J. A. Conder and U. H. Faul (2008), The seismic structure and dynamics of the mantle wedge, Annu. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci., 36, 421 – 455.
  • Schroeder, T., M.J. Cheadle, H.J.B. Dick, U. Faul, J. F. Casey, and P. Kelemen (2007), Nonvolcanic seafloor spreading and corner-flow rotation accommodated by extensional faulting at 15ºN on the Mid- Atlantic Ridge: A structural synthesis of ODP Leg 209, Geochem., Geophys., Geosys., 8, Q06015, doi:10.1029/2006GC001567.
  • Faul, U. H. and I. Jackson (2007), Diffusion creep of dry, melt-free olivine, J. Geophys. Res., 112, B04204, doi:10.1029/2006JB004586.
  • Jackson, I., U. H. Faul, J. Fitz Gerald and S. J. S. Morris (2006), Contrasting viscoelastic behavior of melt-free and melt-bearing olivine: Implications for the nature of grain-boundary sliding, Mat. Sci. Eng. A, 422, 170 – 174.
  • Faul, U. H. and D. Scott (2006), Grain growth in partially molten olivine aggregates, Contrib. Mineral. Petrol., 151, 101 – 111.
  • Faul, U. H. and I. Jackson (2005), The Seismological Signature of Temperature and Grain Size Variations in the Upper Mantle, Earth Planet. Sci. Let., 234, 119 – 134.