Research

Daniel Frost is a prominent researcher in both the geochemistry and geophysics of the Earth’s deep interior and is an expert in high-pressure and temperature experimental science.

His most important achievements, which have been accomplished mainly at the Bayerisches Geoinstitut, involve relating mineral, melt and rock properties determined in the laboratory to natural observations provided by seismology and geochemistry. He is well known for demonstrating that crystal-chemical effects lead to a decrease in the redox state of the Earth’s mantle with increasing depth. He proposed that a large proportion of the Earth’s carbon budget has been retained inside the Earth in the form of diamond and graphite. He also identified a mechanism by which the Earth’s interior achieved its current oxidation state soon after the Earth’s formation, which was crucial to the eventual development of an oxygenated atmosphere.

Photo: David Ausserhofer