Submitted by Dr C.M. Martin-Jones on Tue, 25/03/2025 - 10:15
A Cambridge earth scientist and a data sonification expert from Anglia Ruskin University are transforming mineral data into music for the public to enjoy at the Cambridge Festival.
By converting microscope images of minerals into musical compositions, Dr Carrie Soderman from Cambridge and Dr Domenico Vincinanza from Anglia Ruskin aim to inspire a deeper appreciation for the beauty of minerals and the natural world.
As well as introducing their mineral melodies, Soderman and Vincinanza will detail how they generated the music from scanning electron microscope images of volcanic minerals. Their compositions capture each mineral’s intricate growth patterns; tracing transects across the concentric rings which grew as the crystals slowly formed inside a magma chamber.
Soderman likens minerals to the story tellers of the geological world. Volcanic minerals, for instance, document conditions deep below the volcano, and can help scientists reconstruct what triggered an eruption, she explained. “By listening in on these mineral stories, we hope to create a unique auditory experience.”
This free event will take place from 4:30 PM to 5:30 PM on Wednesday, 26 March. Register here.
About the researchers
Carrie is a Henslow Fellow and postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Earth Sciences. Her research investigates how the geochemistry of volcanic rocks links to the processes that are involved in their formation, from their melt source regions in the Earth’s mantle through to transport and crystallisation on their way to the surface. Carrie is currently working to understand the geological conditions that lead to the formation of critical metal deposits.
Domenico is a musician and a scientist. He received his PhD degrees in Physics working at the European Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN, Geneva) and he is a professional music composer and orchestrator. Always fascinated by how music and science are a continuous quest for harmony, he was one of the pioneers of data sonification for scientific and artistic purposes.