Ben Gruber MSc | DERTS Trainees

Ben's research interests are associated with studying the connections between the chemical and thermal aspects of crustal rocks. The research Ben completed through the DERTS program was focused on identifying how lower crustal chemical and thermal parameters effect mantle geotherms and the diamond capacity of kimberlite pipes. Accomplishing these ends involved the application of in-situ trace element measurements on mineral phases and ambient-temperature inclusion thermometry. Previously, during his undergraduate degree at Washington State University, Ben worked on a project that modelled the chemical and thermal conditions involved in the formation of the Browns Creek rhyolite lava flow located on the Western Snake River Plain, Idaho.

Ben succesfully defended his MSc. in May, 2019.

Ben went on to pursue his PhD at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego.

Internships

Misasa International Student Internship Program: July - August 2017

Alberta Geological Survey: January- February 2018

Publications

Gruber, B., Chacko, T., Pearson, D.G., Currie, C., Menzies, A. (2021) Heat production and moho temperatures in cratonic crust: evidence fromlower crustal xenoliths fromthe slave craton. Lithos,  380-381, 105889 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lithos.2020.105889

Gruber, B. (2019) Temperatures and Heat Production in the Slave Craton Lower Crust: Evidence from Xenoliths in the Diavik A-154 Kimberlite. MSc. thesis University of Alberta, https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-mxym-n231

Yoshino, T., Gruber, B., Reiner, C. (2018) Effects of pressure and water on electrical conductivity of carbonate melt with implications for conductivity anomaly in continental mantle lithosphere. Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors 281 p. 8-16