THIS IS A PROPOSAL REQUESTING FOUR YEARS OF FUNDING TO CONTINUE OUR COMBINED EXPERIMENTAL AND MICRO-BEAM ANALYTICAL STUDY INTO UNDERSTANDING THE ROLE AND ABUNDANCES OF MAGMATIC VOLATILES IN PLANETARY MATERIALS. DURING THE PREVIOUS AWARD WE PRIMARILY FOCUSED ON H2O F AND CL AND WE NOW WISH TO EXPAND OUR LIST TO INCLUDE H2O/H2 F CL S AND C AS WELL AS THE ISOTOPIC SYSTEMS #D AND #37CL. THESE VOLATILES ARE SIGNIFICANT CONSTITUENTS IN A VAST NUMBER OF TERRESTRIAL GEOLOGIC SYSTEMS. HOWEVER RELATIVELY LITTLE IS KNOWN ABOUT THESE VOLATILES IN EXTRATERRESTRIAL SYSTEMS. TO HELP RESOLVE THIS GAP IN OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM WE WILL SEARCH FOR EVIDENCE OF VOLATILE-BEARING GEOCHEMICAL PROCESSES FROM A NUMBER OF DIFFERENT PLANETARY MATERIALS. THE PRIMARY TOOL THAT WE WILL USE TO ASSESS VOLATILE-BEARING GEOCHEMICAL PROCESSES IN THESE MATERIALS IS THE MINERAL APATITE [CA5(PO4)3(F CL OH)].

University Of New Mexico, Albuquerque NM

Investigators