George Anim Master’s Candidate

George Anim Master’s Candidate

My research is focused on understanding shock deformation in shergottites, the most commonly sampled Martian meteorites. My goals are to estimate deformation intensities in shergottites, identify the number of asteroid impact events they have undergone, and develop additional deformation estimation criteria based on changes in the crystal structure of key minerals such as olivine and pyroxene. Understanding the shock deformation in shergottites (and, by extension, all Martian meteorites) will allow for an unbiased interpretation of primary features that can reveal a lot about the geologic processes that shaped Mars.

I have analyzed the deformation and textures of nine Martian meteorites under the petrographic microscope and selected five for further analysis under the scanning electron microscope (SEM). Out of the five, I have analyzed three samples using the SEM. I’m working on processing the SEM data to understand the extent of deformation and decipher the possibility of multiple deformation events within the Martian samples. I expect to be done with data acquisition from the two other samples and data processing by the end of spring this year. With that, I am en route to defending my thesis in the summer of this year. Also, I will be making a poster presentation on some of my findings at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference this March.