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Open research questions in High-pressure geophysics and materials

113 gap statements mined from High-pressure geophysics and materials papers in our 4.5M-paper local library, which holds 982 papers on the topic — drawn mostly from each paper's own stated research gap, future-work, challenge and limitation notes, and its abstract. The ones listed below are a selection still marked open; each names the study that raised it, with a DOI link where the paper has one.

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What the literature leaves open

  • Prior studies have not provided a detailed understanding of the regional earthquake hazards. The study aims to fill this gap by using seismic tomography to investigate the crustal and upper mantle structure of the Sea of Marmara.

    Three-Dimensional Tomographic Imaging of the Crust and Upper Mantle Beneath the Marmara Region · 2026 · DOI

  • Prior studies have focused on the role of crystal orientation, but the impact of defects and grain boundaries is not well understood.

    Atomistic simulations of crystallographic anisotropy and defects in shock loading · 2026 · DOI

  • We argue that despite the high OV diffusivities, the davemaoite component of subducted oceanic crust does not achieve complete redox equilibration with the surrounding mantle on its way to the core-mantle boundary, and that significant redox exchange is limited to the upper parts of the lower mantle.

    Oxygen vacancy diffusion in davemaoite (CaSiO3 perovskite): Implications for the redox equilibrium and the electrical conductivity of Earth’s lower mantle · 2026 · DOI

  • However, the thermal state of the mantle during the rifting of Pangea is not well established by geophysical and geochemical data.

    Was the mantle warmer when Pangea broke up? insights from initial oceanic crustal thickness alongside the rifted margins of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans · 2026 · DOI

  • The Eastern Mediterranean–Anatolian region hosts active subduction, continental collision, and widespread volcanism, yet the uppermost mantle structure underlying these processes remains insufficiently resolved.

    Uppermost mantle nonuniform grid Pn velocity and anisotropy tomography beneath the Eastern Mediterranean and Anatolian region · 2026 · DOI

  • Petrological evidence and global heat budgets indicate that the solid Earth has cooled substantially over geological time, yet the influence of secular cooling on mantle dynamics in global 3D models remains poorly quantified.

    Influence of secular cooling on core-mantle boundary heat flux and mantle plume temperature over 1.8 billion years · 2026 · DOI

  • The mechanism underlying the tectonism in this area, particularly the origin of the Cenozoic intraplate volcanoes and the evolution of the supersedimentary Songliao Basin, remains controversial.

    P -wave velocity and azimuthal anisotropy of the crust and uppermost mantle beneath Northeast China · 2026 · DOI

  • Until recently, it had not been well evaluated with strong ground motion observations due to a lack of local earthquakes with magnitude M5+.

    Simulating broadband (0–3 Hz) ground motion for the 2020 M w 5.7 Magna, Utah, earthquake using the Wasatch Front Community Velocity Model with stochastic velocity perturbations and topography · 2026 · DOI

  • The origin of seismic discontinuities in the Earth’s mid-mantle ($\sim$700–1400 km) remains debated, with competing hypotheses attributing them to either partial melting due to water transport across the transition zone or compositional heterogeneities (subducted crust).

    On the origin of mid-mantle discontinuities beneath the Central Pacific as revealed by long-period SS and PP precursors · 2026 · DOI

  • For this limited data set of five well-recorded events, we demonstrate how to examine basic questions of source variability, tomographic model evaluation, and the reliability of non-double-couple components of moment tensors.

    Implementing three-dimensional Earth models for wavefield simulations and seismic moment tensor estimation · 2026 · DOI

  • The buried Nawa Domain of the Gawler Craton, Australia, remains poorly understood, with its deep structure and connections to adjacent terranes largely unknown.

    Crustal heterogeneity and Moho uplift in the northern Gawler Craton from trans-dimensional Bayesian joint inversion of receiver functions and surface wave dispersion · 2026 · DOI

  • While lattice distortions have been discussed for the Mg-end-member, they have not been reported for Fe-bearing or Fe-rich compositions, possibly because the lattice distortions may be masked by the dominant effects of the spin transition, particularly in Fe-rich compositions.

    High-pressure spectroscopic signatures of the distortion and iron spin transition in Mg-rich MgCO3 ferromagnesite · 2026 · DOI

  • However, it remains unclear how Al2O3 alters the mechanism of hydrogen incorporation and affects water solubility.

    Mechanisms of water incorporation into enstatite with Al substitution: Density functional theory-based analysis · 2026 · DOI

  • Understanding mantle flow beneath old oceanic plates is essential for linking present-day plate motions with long-term lithospheric evolution, yet direct constraints remain sparse due to limited offshore observations.

    Complex Upper-Mantle Anisotropy Beneath the Pacific Triangle Revealed by Shear-Wave Splitting · 2026 · DOI

  • While mineralogical and thermodynamic aspects of these processes are well studied, the development and preservation of residual stress in exhumed rocks remain poorly understood, besides very localized effects in host-inclusion systems.

    Exhumation-induced residual stress in undeformed ultra-high-pressure metamorphic rock · 2025 · DOI

  • However, compelling seismic evidence of slab interference beneath the greater Alpine region is still lacking.

    P and S wave finite-frequency tomography reveals the impact of slab interference on mantle flow beneath the greater Alpine region · 2025 · DOI

  • The presence of pre-existing microstructures reduces seismic anisotropy of the deformed mixtures, however the persistence of pre-existing CPO in actively subducting slabs remains uncertain, making their significance over geological timescales questionable.

    In situ deformation of antigorite-olivine two-phase mixtures: Implications for dynamics and seismic anisotropy in the mantle wedge · 2025 · DOI

  • However, the global anisotropy pattern and its relationship with subduction history, mineral deformation and rheology in the lower mantle remain unclear.

    Influence of subduction history and mineral deformation on seismic anisotropy in the lower mantle · 2025 · DOI

  • Despite decades of geological investigations from near-surface to the upper crust in Gangwon Province, the lithospheric structure of this region remains poorly understood.

    Crustal S -wave velocity structure beneath Gangwon Province, the Korean Peninsula, inferred from Helmholtz tomography · 2025 · DOI

  • However, these algorithms do not easily generalize when (1) the reflectivity series is of a much shorter period compared to the source wavelet, (2) the bounce point sampling is sparse or (3) the source wavelet is noisy or hard to estimate.

    Probabilistic deconvolution of SS waves for imaging fine mantle stratification (SHARP-SS) · 2025 · DOI

  • The study used molecular dynamics simulations, which may not fully capture the complexity of real-world systems. The simulations were limited to a specific range of particle speeds (0.5 to 5.0 km/s). The study focused on aluminum and may not be generalizable to other materials.

    Atomistic simulations of crystallographic anisotropy and defects in shock loading · 2026 · DOI

  • Due to the source-receiver distribution for the phases, our dataset has a sampling bias in the mantle around the edge of the Pacific which may not be representative of the whole mantle.

    Q M1D: A 1D model of shear attenuation in the mantle from differential body waves · 2026 · DOI

  • While the elastic properties of single-phase bridgmanite and periclase have been studied extensively, the bulk elastic properties of multiphase materials depend on how stress and strain are partitioned between the constituent phases, a process poorly understood.

    Shielding of periclase by bridgmanite during compression of a polycrystalline mantle assemblage · 2026 · DOI

  • Regional metamorphism and densification (eclogitization) of the lower crust can affect the lithospheric dynamics of mountain belts, but the coupled effects of reaction rate, temperature, and composition on metamorphism are poorly understood.

    Reactive thermodynamics of crustal eclogitization and foundering · 2025 · DOI

  • We anticipate high-resolution fine mantle stratification imaging using SHARP-SS at locations where seismic stations are sparsely distributed.

    Probabilistic deconvolution of SS waves for imaging fine mantle stratification (SHARP-SS) · 2025 · DOI

Most-cited papers in High-pressure geophysics and materials

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Open questions raised by papers listed on this page include: (1) Prior studies have focused on the role of crystal orientation, but the impact of defects and grain boundaries is not well understood (“Atomistic simulations of crystallographic anisotropy and defects in shock…”, 2026); (2) The thermal state of the mantle during the rifting of Pangea is not well established by geophysical and geochemical data (“Was the mantle warmer when Pangea broke up? insights from initial oceanic…”, 2026); (3) The mechanism underlying the tectonism in this area, particularly the origin of the Cenozoic intraplate volcanoes and the evolution of the supersedimentary Songliao Basin, remains controversial (“P -wave velocity and azimuthal anisotropy of the crust and uppermost mantle…”, 2026); (4) Until recently, it had not been well evaluated with strong ground motion observations due to a lack of local earthquakes with magnitude M5+ (“Simulating broadband (0–3 Hz) ground motion for the 2020 M w 5.7 Magna, Utah,…”, 2026); (5) The buried Nawa Domain of the Gawler Craton, Australia, remains poorly understood, with its deep structure and connections to adjacent terranes largely unknown (“Crustal heterogeneity and Moho uplift in the northern Gawler Craton from…”, 2026). 113 gap statements have been mined from High-pressure geophysics and materials papers in our 4.5M-paper local library, which holds 982 papers on the topic; the gaps come from whichever of those papers state one. They are mostly the research gaps the authors state and the papers' abstracts, plus future-work, limitations and challenges passages. The ones listed below are a selection still marked open; each names the study that raised it, with a DOI link where the paper has one, so you can read the original claim in context.

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