Research

I am a meteoriticist studying the petrology, geochemistry and isotope geochemistry of igneous meteorites (achondrites). Geologists are fortunate to have access to materials that represent the entire range of geologic evolution in our Solar System. Chondrites, the most abundant meteorites, are the oldest and most primitive rocks in the Solar System, and provide information about the composition of the solar nebula and the processes of condensation and accretion of the rocky planets. Several smaller groups of meteorites are primitive achondrites, providing information about the earliest stages of differentiation on asteroids. The largest group of achondrites, the HEDs, represent a more extensively differentiated body that may be asteroid 4 Vesta. We also have samples of two larger and more geologically complex bodies - Moon and Mars - in the form of meteorites and (in the case of Moon) returned samples. Finally, we live on Earth, the largest terrestrial planet and the only one (probably) still differentiating. Most of my work is on primitive achondrites and Martian meteorites.

differentiation