Understanding the effects of thermal metamorphism on the water and organic contents of primitive carbonaceous chondrites

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Scientific backgroundThe effects of thermal alteration on the structure, concentration and chemistry of organic matter have been studied in both terrestrial and extra-terrestrial material (1,2). This study aims at providing a quantitative account of the impact of these processes in order to determine the primordial composition of the rocks, and to properly address the nature of the precursor material of their organics and volatiles. This study offers crucial insights into the ongoing sample-return space missions, Hayabusa2 and OSIRIS-REx, as they sample heated asteroids, while the supervisors (Chan, King) are on the sample analysis teams. Research methodology The successful candidate will conduct heating experiments, and observe how the mineralogy and organic content of meteorites and organic-rich mudrocks change when subjected to heating. Data of the mineralogy, chemical, isotopic and organic compositions of the samples will be acquired by techniques such as X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), infrared, Raman spectroscopy, nanoscale secondary ion mass spectrometry (NanoSIMS), and X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) at Diamond Light Source.