Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Meteorite Investigation And Classification, Olivia N. Benest

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Several meteorites arrive on Earth every day, but only a small percentage of them are found. They are easiest to spot on deserts or frozen ice. Western has a large number of unclassified meteorites found in the Northwest Africa (NWA) and Oman deserts. These meteorites include chondrites, achondrites, irons, and even Lunar and Martian meteorites. Classifying a meteorite requires detailed examination by optical microscopy, as well as micro X-ray diffraction (µXRD), and Electron Probe Microanalysis (EPMA), to observe their mineralogy (metal, oxide, sulfide, and silicate mineral phases), textures (e.g. chondrules, CAIs) and composition, in order to classify their petrologic type …

Developing A Bytownite Calibration Curve As A Lunar Analogue, Trevor W. Matterson

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Planetary analogue materials are useful to help interpret and predict planetary processes on other planetary bodies that we cannot observe directly. Lunar analogue materials include terrestrial rocks and minerals with compositions and textures like those on the moon. This project investigates the lunar analogue mineral bytownite to quantify shock effects on the moon using strain related mosaicity determined through micro x-ray diffraction (µXRD). Calibrating strain information as a function of shock pressure for these minerals will enable us to extract peak shock pressures (in GPa) from naturally shocked materials, such as lunar meteorites and Apollo samples, using µXRD

High Pressure And High Temperature Study Of Magnesiochromite And Its Geophysical Implications, N M Tauhid Belal Khan

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Magnesiochromite (MgCr₂O₄) is commonly found in the Earth’s crust, upper mantle, meteorites, and possibly in lunar crust. Synchrotron X-ray diffraction measurements of MgCr₂O₄ using double-sided laser heating diamond anvil cell showed the dissociation of MgCr₂O₄ to Cr₂O₃+MgO at ~15 GPa and to Mg₂Cr₂O₅+Cr₂O₃ below and above ~1500 K, respectively. At above 20 GPa, only a single phase CaTi₂O₄-type structure of MgCr₂O₄ was observed at 1400-2000 K. Fitting the pressure-volume data …

Stable Isotopes And Xrd Investigation Of Gold Mineralization At The Syenite-Hosted Young-Davidson Deposit, Matachewan, Ontario, Niloufar Naderi

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The Young-Davidson mine is a syenite-hosted orogenic gold deposit at the western end of the Cadillac-Larder-Lake deformation zone in the southern Abitibi greenstone belt, Canada. This study utilized oxygen isotopes to assess the sources of the fluids and evaluate the role of magmatic and metamorphic fluids in gold mineralization. XRD analyses completed on whole-rock powder samples combined with petrography provides a better understanding of the distribution, timing, and nature of alteration patterns and their relationship to gold mineralization.

Temperatures calculated from mineral separates oxygen isotope thermometry indicate the fluids ranged from approximately 322 ± 25° to 431 ± 30°C. The …