ELMO

In the furnace, artificial magma (here in the crucible) is produced from silicate rock and additives at temperatures of up to 1500 degrees Celsius.

Upcoming open PhD project in the ERC ELMO group

February 02, 2026

The ERC ELMO group will open a call for PhD project applications in spring 2026 with an application deadline of 1 June 2026. You can register to start preparing your application after 2 February 2026. Please only finalise and submit your application in response to the actual call. more

n the Knudsen cell (the small white cylinder right next to the tweezers), only a few millimeters in size, an equilibrium is established between molten rock and evaporating gas. The gas is then analyzed in the quadrupole mass spectrometer. The photograph shows Christian operating the elaborate laboratory setup.

ERC Starting Grant: Experimental Laboratory Magma Ocean (ELMO)

November 01, 2025

The goal of the ELMO project is to investigate how the earliest, molten stages of planets gave rise to the atmospheres we observe today. By simulating these magma oceans experimentally, we aim to build a direct link between a planet’s interior composition and its atmospheric chemistry. more

Crucible with molten silicate in the furnace.

Molten Planets and Early Atmospheres in the Laboratory

September 04, 2025

Funded by an ERC Starting Grant, MPS researcher Christian Renggli investigates a crucial phase of planetary evolution. more