Earth Sciences Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Award

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Faust 9627711 Studies of the chemistry of carbonaceous chondrite meteorites have focused on the stability of their volatile components (hydrous minerals such as serpentine) and organic material, such as amino acids, hydrocarbons, and fullerenes under shock conditions simulating those of meteor impact on an accreting terrestrial planet, and large impactor events, like that thought to have caused the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary extinctions. The stability of these organic compounds during meteor impact is not well known, and is important in understanding the organic chemistry of the terrestrial planets during and after their accretion. The NSF fellowship will be used to study the stability of organic molecules (such as biotic and abiotic amino acids, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and fullerenes) in natural carbonaceous chondrites and analogous materials, using shock-wave and recovery techniques with Professor Ahrens at CalTech. For the recovery experiments, the P.I. will use infrared spectroscopy to study the structure and content of the organic material in the recovered samples because it is an extremely sensitive technique to use when studying hydrogen and carbon bonds in organic matter and minerals. The expertise in using infrared spectroscopic techniques will provide her with an excellent background with which to investigate meteoritic organic material, and knowledge of the behavior of hydrous minerals at high pressures and temperatures will also give her an excellent basis with which to understand their stability in meteorites under shock conditions.