Interdisciplinary Research
Our research is focused on assessing the composition and processes of planetary surface and interior, using various disciplines that are usually not intimately linked, including igneous and sedimentary petrology. Mars is the primary focus of our research, but other terrestrial planets including Venus are of high interest.
Because we cannot go to other planets (not yet), a wide breadth of techniques need to be exploited to back out their geological history. Combining remote sensing (visible/near-infrared and thermal infrared spectroscopy), experimental petrology, lab measurements (FTIR, VNIR, XRD, EPMA etc...), modeling, and various analytical instruments onboard the Martian rovers, Curiosity and Perseverance (ChemCam LIBS, APXS, CheMin, SuperCam, PIXL), help us to better understand planetary processes.
Below are projects collaborators and I have been working on. If you are interested in joining the team, please reach out to me!
Because we cannot go to other planets (not yet), a wide breadth of techniques need to be exploited to back out their geological history. Combining remote sensing (visible/near-infrared and thermal infrared spectroscopy), experimental petrology, lab measurements (FTIR, VNIR, XRD, EPMA etc...), modeling, and various analytical instruments onboard the Martian rovers, Curiosity and Perseverance (ChemCam LIBS, APXS, CheMin, SuperCam, PIXL), help us to better understand planetary processes.
Below are projects collaborators and I have been working on. If you are interested in joining the team, please reach out to me!
An Evolved Crust in Early Mars
© ESA, NASA and M. Kornmesser
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Traces of Explosive Volcanism Hidden in a Mudstone |
Effects of Phosphorus on Martian Magmas |
Early Noachian Crust and Alkaline Magmatism |
Magmatic Sources of Detrital Minerals |
Trace Element Calibrations using the ChemCam InstrumentOnboard the Curiosity rover, the ChemCam suite has a laser induced breakdown spectrometer (LIBS) that allows to quantify elemental abundances of rocks and soils at distance (1.6 - 7 m from the rover) at a micrometer scale (350 - 550 µm). Using a large dataset from Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), we re-calibrated Li, Rb, Sr, and Ba and quantified for the first time Cu using univariate calibrations. Li, Rb, Sr, Ba and Cu concentrations can now be measured in all materials analyzed by LIBS since the beginning of Curiosity journey.
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