The ExPeRT Lab

ExPeRT’s high-pressure, high-temperature lab enables exploration of chemical rock reactions, mineral stability, melt generation up to ~400 km deep and over 2000 degrees C.

Planetary Science

ExPeRT members recreate conditions of the birth of the solar system explore rocky planetary body formation, impacts, and evolution to modern processes.

Volcanism

ExPeRT explores modern processes, like carbon and sulfur cycles and melt generation that produce crust and gases entering the atmosphere via volcanoes, like Sakurajima.

Early Earth and Deep Time

ExPeRT members explore the chemical processes in early Earth that form interior layers and their interactions throughout geologic time.

Experiments

ExPeRT members use microscopic analytical tools to observe the geochemistry of melts and minerals after experimentation which can be extrapolated to natural processes.

ExPeRT: Experimental Petrology Rice Team

Under the direction of principal investigator Rajdeep Dasgupta at Rice University's Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences, we investigate the formation and evolution of Earth and other rocky planetary bodies and how the interior processes influence the surface chemistry and habitability. The primary approach of our research is laboratory experiments and geochemical analyses but we also use thermodynamic and other modeling approach.

Recent Publications

Featured

Ji, D.*, & Dasgupta, R. (2026). Garnet pyroxenite at mid-mantle depths as a source of young lunar magmatism. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 690: 120133. doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2026.120133

Pal A.*, Dasgupta R., Rogalla D., Füri E., & Boulliung J. (2026). N analysis in nominally N-free silicate minerals and glasses using NanoSIMS. Chemical Geology 719: 123503. doi:10.1016/j.chemgeo.2026.123503

Ji, D.*, Dasgupta, R., & Lee, C-T.A. (2026). The effects of magmatic recharge on primary lunar melt compositions: Implications for the water and other volatile budget of the Moon. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 420: 131-174. doi:10.1016/j.gca.2026.03.042

Zhang, Y.^, Dasgupta, R. (2026). The effects of sulfur on near-liquidus phase relations of highly reduced basaltic melts with implications for magmatism in Mercury. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 420: 399-417. doi:10.1016/j.gca.2026.02.034

Johnson, A.*, Dasgupta, R., Chowdhury, P.^, & Bose, M. (2025). Storage capacity and partitioning of sulfur during silicate melting of the Earth’s shallow upper mantle and the evolution of S/Dy during MORB-source melting. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 403: 20-36. doi:10.1016/j.gca.2025.06.022

Ji, D.*, & Dasgupta, R. (2025). Sulfur inventory of the young lunar mantle constrained by experimental sulfide saturation of Chang’e-5 mare basalts and a new sulfur solubility model for silicate melts in equilibrium with sulfides of variable metal–sulfur ratio. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 394: 284-297. doi:10.1016/j.gca.2025.02.019

Latest News

A group photo of researchers and experts attending the Inner Solar System Workshop at Rice University.

May 20, 2026

Directed by Rajdeep Dasgupta and Andre Izidoro, Rice University recently held the Inner Solar System Workshop. The gathering united diverse experts to discuss the formation and exploration of terrestrial planets, aiming to spark cross-disciplinary collaboration and innovative planetary research.

Read the Rice University press release here.

Yishen Zhang. Credit: Jared Jones/Rice University

Apr 15, 2026

A new study by Rice University postdoc Yishen Zhang reveals how the sulfur rich magmas in Mercury behave differently than Earth. By recreating the planet's conditions using meteorite chemistry, Zhang discovered that Mercury’s high sulfur content significantly lowers magma crystallization temperatures, reshaping our understanding of its mantle solidification.

Read the Rice University press release here.