I use high-pressure, high-temperature experimental techniques to study the evolution of rocky planets and planetesimals. By subjecting rocks, metals and fluids to extreme pressures and temperatures I determine their chemical and physical properties. This generally involves the use of furnaces, hydraulic presses, autoclaves and in situ measurement techniques (e.g. X-ray absorption). 

This data provides the fundamental input for interpretation of various observations from space (e.g. planetary interior models, surface compositions, atmosphere compositions). Recent work includes studies of core formation in terrestrial planets, evaporation of volatile elements (e.g. sulfur) from planetary surfaces, magma ocean differentiation and constraints on the chemical bulk compositions of the rocky planets. Future work is focused on Venus and the coupled chemical evolution of the mantle, crust and atmosphere. 

I am keen to apply my expertise in other fields as well, including material science and metallurgy, and their coupling with aerospace engineering . 

Examples of recent key publications; 

• Steenstra E.S. et al. (2024) Thermal stability of F-rich Phlogopite and K-richterite during Partial Melting of Metasomatized Mantle Peridotite with Implications for Deep Earth Volatile Cycles. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, in press. 
• Steenstra E.S. et al. (2023) Evaporation of moderately volatile elements from metal and sulfide melts: implications for volatile element abundances in magmatic iron meteorites. Earth Planetary Science Letters, 622, 118406.
• Haupt C.P., Renggli C.J., Klaver M., Steenstra E.S., Berndt J., Rohrbach A., Klemme S. (2023) Experimental and Petrological Investigations into the Origin of the Lunar Chang'E 5 Basalts. Icarus, 402, 115625.
• Steenstra E.S. et al. (2022) The solubility of sulfur in a deep magma ocean: implications for the deep sulfur cycle. Geochemical Perspective Letters, 22, 5–9. 
• Steenstra E.S. et al. (2020) Highly reduced accretion of the Earth by large impactors? Evidence from elemental partitioning between sulfide liquids and silicate melts at highly reduced conditions. Geochimica et Cosmochica Acta, 286, 248-268.
• Steenstra E.S., van Westrenen W. (2020) Geochemical constraints on core-mantle differentiation in Mercury and the aubrite parent ​body. Icarus, 340, 113621.

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