Mineral Structure and Deformation as Key Recorders of Earth and Planetary Processes

我的研究使用矿物质来解释地球和其他行星上的过程。矿物记录了它们的形成条件：压力、温度和成分（P-T-X），以及随后的事件，如变形、热变质、交代（流体相互作用）和水蚀变。陆地岩石、陨石、撞击岩石和合成类似物提供了有关矿物组合、结构、矿物成分、晶体结构和阳离子排序的关键信息，这些信息可以揭示过去的过程。 我的团队处于应用原位微X射线衍射（µXRD）研究地球和行星环境中的矿物的最前沿，包括其在提供地球和天体材料中的相识别，纹理信息和变形相关特征方面的关键作用。我们在加拿大也是独一无二的，使用固态核磁共振（NMR）光谱来阐明地质背景下的矿物行为。利用X射线衍射和核磁共振光谱的互补技术，以及光学和化学方法（EPMA），我的团队试图解释和量化矿物特性，以了解地球和其他太阳系环境中的地质过程。我的长期研究目标是研究我们的太阳系及其岩石行星体的演变，包括地球，通过检查地球地幔和地壳岩石，陨石，以及从月球返回的样品，最终从小行星和火星-使用矿物成分，晶体结构，阳离子排序和纹理证据的综合研究。 我的研究主题是双重的：1）量化和校准矿物作为应变记录器，并区分变形由于陨石撞击（冲击）和陆地构造变形（定向应变）; 2）定量和解释矿物作为早期太阳系和地球地幔岩石中温度的记录器，通过对关键矿物系列的晶体结构和阳离子有序无序的系统观测，推导出热力学参数。 这项研究将使学生处于当前关于早期行星体的形成条件和热演化，行星材料中冲击变质作用的程度和变化以及幔源岩浆成因的辩论的最前沿。

My research uses minerals to interpret processes on Earth and other planetary bodies. Minerals record their formation conditions: pressure, temperature, and composition (P-T-X), and subsequent events such as deformation, thermal metamorphism, metasomatism (fluid interaction) and aqueous alteration. Terrestrial rocks, meteorites, impacted rocks and synthetic analogues provide key information about mineral associations, textures, mineral compositions, crystal structures and cation ordering that can reveal past processes. My group is at the forefront of applying in situ micro X-ray diffraction (µXRD) to study minerals in Earth and planetary contexts, including its key role in providing phase identification, textural information and deformation-related features in Earth and astromaterials. We are also unique in Canada in using solid state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy for elucidation of mineral behaviour in geological contexts. Using the complementary techniques of X-ray diffraction and NMR spectroscopy, as well as optical and chemical methods (EPMA), my group seeks to interpret and quantify mineral properties to understand the geologic processes at work in the Earth and other Solar System settings. My long-term research goals are to investigate the evolution of our solar system and its rocky planetary bodies, including Earth, by examining terrestrial mantle and crustal rocks, meteorites, and returned samples from the moon and eventually from asteroids and Mars - using the combined study of mineral compositions, crystal structures, cation ordering and textural evidence. My research themes are twofold: 1) to quantify and calibrate minerals as recorders of strain, and to discriminate between deformation due to meteorite impacts (shock) and terrestrial tectonic deformation (directed strain); and 2) to quantify and interpret minerals as recorders of temperature in the early solar system and terrestrial mantle rocks, by making systematic observations of crystal structure and cation order-disorder for key mineral suites, and deriving thermodynamic parameters.  This research will place students at the forefront of current debates on the formation conditions and thermal evolution of early planetary bodies, the extent and variation of shock metamorphism in planetary materials, and the genesis of mantle-derived magmas.