Ghiorso is the lead PI of the ENKI project. He received his Ph.D. from U.C. Berkeley in 1980 on research that focused on the thermochemistry of high-temperature aqueous solutions and thermodynamic modeling of silicate melts. Following that he moved to the University of Washington, and in conjunction with Richard Sack, developed a hierarchy of internally consistent thermodynamic solution models for the rock-forming silicates, which permitted the development of models and computational tools for the calculation of chemical mass transfer in magmatic systems (MELTS). Ghiorso is now Vice President of OFM Research, and continues to work on applications of thermodynamic and kinetic modeling to the evolution of magmatic systems. In addition to ENKI, he recently began a project with Dimitri Sverjensky to merge thermochemical models of high-temperature/pressure aqueous solutions (DEW) with MELTS.
(Photo location: Tongariro National Park, New Zealand)
206-550-1850
Software, databases, and computational tools
MELTS, pMELTS, and thermodynamic properties calculators
Database portal for experimental data on mineral-melt equilibria
PhasePlot, software for visualization of phase equilibria on pressure-temperature grids. Available through the Apple App Store.
MagmaSat (Mac) and MagmaSatApp (iPad), software for computation of saturation conditions of H2O-CO2 mixed fluids in natural composition silicate melts. Available through the Apple App Store.
Publications relevant to the ENKI project
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Ghiorso MS, Carmichael ISE (1980) A regular solution model for met-aluminous silicate liquids: Applications to geothermometry, immiscibility, and the source regions of basic magmas. Contrib Mineral Petrol 71:323-342 |
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Ghiorso MS, Carmichael ISE, Rivers ML, Sack RO (1983) The Gibbs free energy of mixing of natural silicate liquids; an expanded regular solution approximation for the calculation of magmatic intensive variables. Contrib Mineral Petrol 84:107-145 |
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Ghiorso MS (1985) Chemical mass transfer in magmatic processes. I. Thermodynamic relations and numerical algorithms. Contrib Mineral Petrol 90:107-120 |
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Ghiorso MS, Carmichael ISE (1985) Chemical mass transfer in magmatic processes. II. Applications in equilibrium crystallization, fractionation and assimilation. Contrib Mineral Petrol 90:121-141 |
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Ghiorso MS, Kelemen PB (1987) Evaluating reaction stoichiometry in magmatic systems evolving under generalized thermodynamic constraints: Examples comparing isothermal and isenthalpic assimilation, in, Mysen BO, ed., Magmatic Processes: Physicochemical Principles, Geochemical Society, Special Publication 1: 319-336 |
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Ghiorso MS (1990) Application of the Darken equation to mineral solid solutions with variable degrees of order-disorder. American Mineralogist 75, 539-543 |
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Ghiorso, MS (1994) Algorithms for the estimation of phase stability in heterogeneous thermodynamic systems. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta. Vol 58, No 24, 5489-5501. |
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Ghiorso MS, Sack RO (1995) Chemical Mass Transfer in Magmatic Processes IV. A revised and internally consistent thermodynamic model for the interpolation and extrapolation of liquid-solid equilibria in magmatic systems at elevated temperatures and pressures. Contrib Mineral Petrology 119, 197-212 |
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Asimow PD, Ghiorso MS (1998) Algorithmic Modifications Extending MELTS to Calculate Subsolidus Phase Relations. American Mineralogist 83, 1127-1131 |
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Ghiorso MS, Hirschmann MM, Reiners PW, Kress VC III (2002) The pMELTS: A revision of MELTS for improved calculation of phase relations and major element partitioning related to partial melting of the mantle to 3 GPa. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems 3(5), 10.1029/2001GC000217. |
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Ghiorso MS, 2004, An Equation of State for Silicate Melts. I. Formulation of a General Model, American Journal of Science, 304, 637-678. |
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Ghiorso MS, and Kress VC, 2004, An Equation of State for Silicate Melts. II. Calibration of volumetric properties at 105 Pa, American Journal of Science, 304, 679-751. |
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Ghiorso MS, 2004, An Equation of State for Silicate Melts. III. Analysis of stoichiometric liquids at elevated pressure: shock compression data, molecular dynamics simulations and mineral fusion curves, American Journal of Science, 304, 752-810. |
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Ghiorso MS, 2004, An Equation of State for Silicate Melts. IV. Calibration of a multicomponent mixing model to 40 GPa, American Journal of Science, 304, 811-834. |
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Gualda, GAR, Ghiorso, MS, Lemons, R.V., Carley, T.L. (2012) Rhyolite-MELTS: A modified calibration of MELTS optimized for silica-rich, fluid-bearing magmatic systems. Journal of Petrology, 53, 875-890. |
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Ghiorso, MS (2013) A globally convergent saturation state algorithm applicable to thermodynamic systems with a stable or metastable omni-component phase. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 103 295-300 |
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Gualda, GAR, Ghiorso, MS (2015) MELTS_Excel: A Microsoft Excel-based MELTS interface for research and teaching of magma properties and evolution. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 16, 315-324, doi:10.1002/ 2014GC005545. |
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Ghiorso, MS, Gualda, GAR, 2015. Chemical Thermodynamics and the Study of Magmas. In: Sigurdsson, H., Houghton, B., Rymer, H., Stix, J., McNutt, S. (Eds.), The Encyclopedia of Volcanoes, pp. 143-161. |