Europlanet Distributed Research and Technology Infrastructure (RTI) Facility – VU (Exo)Planetary Interior Simulation Laboratory (PISL)
Average Transnational Access (TA) visit: 5 days
The (Exo)Planetary Interior Simulation Laboratory (PISL) at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam is dedicated to studies of the behaviour of planetary materials at extreme conditions.
Available equipment includes:
- Two piston cylinder presses, capable of subjecting cubic-millimeter-sized volumes of minerals, metals and/or magma to pressures between 0.4 and 3.5 gigapascals and temperatures up to 1873 K.
- An 800 ton multi-anvil press, capable of generating sample pressures between 3 and 10 gigapascals and temperatures exceeding 2000 K.
The facility is used to constrain geochemical processes in the interior of the Moon, Mercury, Mars, asteroids, rocky exoplanets, and Earth.
Individual experiments take between a couple of minutes and 3 days depending on the specific research topic. Users will be trained in sample preparation as well as instrument use, and the lab features in-house starting material and run product preparation facilities.
Contact
You must get in touch with the host facility to discuss the technical feasibility of your proposal before submitting an application. If you do not contact the host, your proposal will not be approved.
Wim van Westrenen, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1100, 1081 HZ Amsterdam. w.van.westrenen@vu.nl
Images
Publications related to TA facility and past visits
- Jing JJ, Berndt J, Kuwahara H, Klemme S, van Westrenen W (2025) Halogen abundance evidence for the formation and metasomatism of the primary lunar crust. Nature Communications 16, article 5337, doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-60849-4.
- Xu Y, Lin Y, Zheng H, van Westrenen W (2024) Non-Henrian behavior of hydrogen in plagioclase – basaltic melt partitioning. Chemical Geology 661, article 122153, doi: 10.1016/j.chemgeo.2024.122153.
- Snape JF, Nemchin AA, Johnson T, Luginbühl S, Berndt J, Klemme S, van Westrenen W (2022) Experimental constraints on the radiogenic isotope evolution of the Moon. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 326, 119-148.
- Jing JJ, Lin Y, Knibbe JS, van Westrenen W (2022) Garnet stability in the deep lunar mantle: constraints on the physics and chemistry of the interior of the Moon. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 584, 117491.
- Steenstra ES, Berndt J, Rohrbach A, Bullock ES, van Westrenen W, Klemme S, Walter MJ (2022) Partitioning of Ru, Pd, Ag, Re, Pt, Ir and Au between sulfide-, metal- and silicate liquid at highly reduced conditions: implications for terrestrial accretion and aubrite parent body evolution. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 336, 15-32, doi: 10.1016/j.gca.2022.08.021.
