Current Research
At the ASU Buseck Center for Meteorite Studies, we are actively studying the compositions of the most primitive classes of meteorites to better understand the time scales and processes involved in the formation of the first solid grains in the solar nebula, that eventually led to the formation of rocky planets like Earth and Mars.
Director Rhonda Stroud’s research involves laboratory analyses of astromaterials to determine how materials in the Solar System have formed and evolved from the initial formation of the nebula to modern day. She is recognized for her leadership in the application of electron microscopy and focused ion beam methods to the study of presolar stardust, and returned comet, asteroid, and interstellar dust samples. She is currently participating in the JAXA Hayabusa2 Initial Analysis of returned samples from asteroid Ryugu, and the NASA Apollo Next Generation Sample Analysis examination of lunar soils.
Deputy Director Neeraja Chinchalkar’s research includes studying terrestrial and lunar impact cratering processes and products. Dr. Chinchalkar has expertise in microanalytical techniques such as SEM, EPMA, XRF and EBSD. She investigates terrestrial impactites, and astromaterials like Apollo lunar samples and lunar meteorites to investigate high pressure-temperature phases of accessory minerals such as zircons and baddeleyite to understand thermal evolution of impact melts.
Research Professor Laurence Garvie’s work focuses on high-spatial-resolution microscopic studies of the primitive chondritic meteorites as a means of understanding the physical and chemical processes that resulted in the formation of the Solar System. His particular field of interest is the relationship between organic and inorganic components in the carbonaceous chondrites, which can shed light on the abiotic processing of organic matter in the early Solar System.
Assistant Research Professor Amy Jurewicz’s research currently focuses on measuring Fe and Mg abundances in the bulk solar-wind, utilizing solar-wind collector materials returned to Earth by the NASA Genesis mission. She is additionally working with members of the Genesis Science team and the Johnson Space Center Genesis curatorial staff on a variety of other tasks, including technique development and standardization, sample surface preparation, and outreach activities. Solar-wind samples are a good surrogate for the solar nebula because a preponderance of scientific evidence suggests that the outer layer of the Sun preserves the composition of the early solar nebula.
We are also investigating various short-lived and long-lived radiogenic isotope systems in several classes of differentiated meteorites, such as primitive achondrites, and the HED group meteorites (believed to have originated on the asteroid 4-Vesta), to precisely determine the timing of silicate differentiation and core formation on asteroidal bodies in the early Solar System.
