Phosphate minerals: a window into terrestrial planetary formation history

这个研究计划的主要目标是提高我们对距离我们最近的行星火星形成的理解。火星是与地球同时形成的岩石行星之一。形成其表面的岩石的成分似乎主要是火山(玄武岩)，类似于早期地球的样子。它显然有火山的历史，我们可以从奥林匹斯山脉上看到的，这是一座26公里高的火山。就像地球上的岩石一样，火星上的岩石也不尽相同。每一块岩石和组成岩石的每一种矿物都显示出各种各样的纹理和成分，所有这些都告诉我们一些关于这颗红色星球的地质情况。目前，“探索”火星的唯一途径是利用无人轨道航天器和漫游车传回的数据，以及对火星陨石的研究。火星陨石是从地球上发射并降落在地球上的岩石，其中许多都存放在安大略省皇家博物馆，我在这个项目中可以直接接触到它。 这里提出的综合研究计划涉及形成这些矿物的关键过程及其复杂的化学成分。我将在原子尺度上对它们进行研究，以限制行星尺度的过程，因此它们可能会揭示这些痕量和挥发性元素在行星岩浆系统中的行为。这将包括了解不同地质环境中晶体结构中常量元素和微量元素的替代机制。一些人声称，这些矿物在撞击地表期间，以及最终将它们发射出地球表面的事件期间，失去了我们用于测年的所有信息。这些过程使得它们无法用于我们通常在地球上使用的年龄测定技术。最近，我们开发了一系列显微成像和纳米级的化学分析，将研究矿物到原子水平，以梳理出它们复杂的过去。 这是研究火星的激动人心的时刻。人类对月球和火星的探索现在在几个航天机构的长期计划中。由于火星表面的流动实验室目前正在研究这颗行星，并计划在未来十年内进行几次火星任务，因此非常有必要了解其复杂的地质历史，以便不仅解释目前正在从火星科学实验室恢复的数据，而且为未来的任务做准备。由于加拿大近一半的GDP增长来自知识密集型经济部门，加拿大空间计划是推动加拿大在世界舞台上继续保持领先地位、为工业和科学家提供新机会以及为所有加拿大人带来长期社会和经济利益的关键驱动力。

The major goal of this research program is to improve our understanding of the formation of our closest planet Mars. Mars is one of the rocky planets which began to form at the same time as the Earth. The composition of the rocks which form its surface appear to be largely volcanic (basaltic) similar to what the early Earth would have been like. It has obviously had a volcanic history as we can see from Olympus Mons, a 26 kilometre high volcano on its surface. Just as with terrestrial rocks, Martian rocks are not all the same. Each rock, and each mineral that makes up the rock show a wide variety of textures and compositions all of which tell us something about the geology of the red planet. Currently, the only way to "explore" Mars is with data sent back from unmanned orbiting spacecraft and rovers, and through the study of Martian meteorites. Martian meteorites are rocks that have been launched from the planet and landed on Earth many that are housed at the Royal Ontario Museum that I have direct access to for this project. The comprehensive research program proposed here addresses the key processes that formed these minerals and their complex chemistry. I will study them at the atomic-scale to place constraints on planetary-scale processes, therefore they may reveal the behaviour of these trace and volatile elements in a planet’s magmatic systems. This will include understanding the substitution mechanisms of major elements and trace elements within the crystal structures in different geological environments. Some claim that these minerals lose all of their information that we use for dating during impacts to the surface and then ultimately the event that launched them off the surface of the planet. These processes make them unusable for age dating techniques that we typically use on Earth. Recently we developed a series of microimaging and nanoscale chemical analyses that will study minerals down to the atomic level to tease out their complex past. This is an exciting time to be studying Mars. The human exploration of the Moon and Mars is now in the long-term plans of several space agencies. With the mobile laboratory now on the surface of Mars currently studying the planet and several planned missions to Mars over the next decade, there will be a great need to understand its complex geological history to not only interpret the data that is being recovered currently from the Mars Science Laboratory, but to prepare for future missions. With almost half of Canada's GDP growth in the knowledge-intensive sectors of the economy, the Canadian Space Program is a key driver behind continued leadership on the world stage, new opportunities for industry and scientists, and long-term social and economic benefits for all Canadians.