Ringwoodite [SEP] named after
mantle transition zone from 410 to 660 km deep.
This mineral was first identified in the Tenham meteorite in 1969, and is inferred to be present in large quantities in the Earth’s mantle.
Ringwoodite was named after the Australian earth scientist Ted Ringwood (1930–1993), who studied polymorphic phase transitions in the common mantle minerals olivine and pyroxene at pressures equivalent to depths as great as about 600 km.
Olivine, wadsleyite, and ringwoodite are polymorphs found in the upper mantle of the earth. At depths
same crystal structure as the high pressure spinel polymorph of olivine. This was the first time that Ringwood's predicted polymorph was found in nature. Honouring the importance of Ringwood's work the mineral was named ringwoodite. A team from the University of Alberta have isolated terrestrial ringwoodite in a brown diamond specimen found in Brazil in 2008. Their research suggests the presence of water deep within the Earth's mantle.
Later life.
In 1978, his ANU team invented synroc, a possible means of safely storing and disposing of radioactive