Earth Sciences Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Award

碳质球粒陨石的化学研究主要集中在其挥发性成分（含水矿物，如蛇纹岩）和有机物质（如氨基酸、碳氢化合物和富勒烯）在冲击条件下的稳定性上，这些冲击条件模拟了流星撞击一个不断增长的类地行星，以及大型撞击事件，比如被认为导致白垩纪-第三纪边界灭绝的撞击事件。这些有机化合物在流星撞击期间的稳定性尚不清楚，这对于理解类地行星在吸积期间和之后的有机化学非常重要。NSF奖学金将用于研究天然碳质球粒陨石和类似材料中的有机分子（如生物和非生物氨基酸、多环芳烃和富勒烯）的稳定性，使用冲击波和恢复技术与加州理工学院的Ahrens教授合作。对于回收实验，P.I.将使用红外光谱来研究回收样品中有机物质的结构和含量，因为在研究有机物质和矿物中的氢和碳键时，红外光谱是一种非常敏感的技术。使用红外光谱技术的专业知识将为她研究陨石有机物质提供良好的背景，并且对高压和高温下含水矿物行为的了解也将为她了解它们在冲击条件下在陨石中的稳定性提供良好的基础。

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.