The meeting highlights:  Postdoc, Fara Lindsay gave an oral presentation about the Martian meteorite NWA 7034 (“Black Beauty”) , a water rich "Martian (basaltic breccia)" whose spectrum matches spectral measurements of the Martian dark plains. The 40Ar/39Ar results have sampled multiple thermal events. The presentation generated several thought-provoking comments on how the meteorite came together on the Martian surface.

Graduate student Jake Setera’s presented a poster describing a new twist on Ar-Thermochronology developed here at Rutgers that attracted several researchers, both 40Ar/39Ar practitioners and new potential collaborators. His work has many possible application s to meteoritic samples such as NWA 7034.

Annette Hilton (REU student from The College of Wooster), an American Museum of Natural History undergraduate intern working with Dr. Juliane Gross, gave an oral presentation on the origin and classification meteorite NWA 10401 that created quite a buzz . Several unsolicited comments (including one from Apollo astronaut Harrison (Jack) Schmitt- the only geologist who walked on the Moon) stated that the presentation was one of the best student presentations at this year ’s LPSC meeting.

https://www.wooster.edu/news/releases/2016/january/research-hilton/

Here are the titles of the papers presented (bold indicates an oral presentation):

 

CLASSIFYING THE UNKNOWN - THE LUNAR EDITION: NORTH WEST

AFRICA 10401 A NEW TYPE OF THE MG-SUITE ROCK?:  A. Hilton, J. Gross, R. Korotev, A. Calzada-Diaz.

 

AR AGES OF MARTIAN METEORITE NWA 7034:  F. N. Lindsay, J. S. Delaney, B. D. Turrin, G. F. Herzog, J. Park, and C. C. Swisher

 

40AR/39AR THERMOCHRONOLOGY: A METHOD FOR PRECISE AGE DATING & CLOSURE TEMPERATURES, WITH IMPLICATIONS FOR METEORITIC AND TERRESTRIAL SAMPLES: J.B. Setera, B. Turrin, J.A., VanTongeren, F.N. Lindsay, G.F. Herzog, J.S. Delaney, and C.C. Swisher III.

FRACTIONATING CHLORINE ISOTOPES IN THE LUNAR MAGMA OCEAN:  J.W. Boyce1, A. Treiman, J. Eiler, E. Stolper, J. Greenwood, J. Gross, Y. Guan, C. Ma.

UNIQUE VIEW OF C ASTEROID REGOLITH FROM THE JBILET WINSELWAN CM CHONDRITE:  Michael Zolensky, Takashi Mikouchi,Kenji Hagiya, Kazumasa Ohsumi, Mutsumi Komatsu, Queenie H. S. Chan1, Loan Le6, David Kring7, Michael Cato, Amy L. Fagan, Juliane Gross, Ayuna Tanaka, Daichi Takegawa, Takuya Hoshikawa, Tomoaki Yoshida, Naoya Sawa.

MAGETITE AS AN INDICATOR OF EQUILIBRATION IN THE CK CHONDRIETS:  T.L. Dunn, M. Ivanova, and J. Gross.

CRYSTAL SIZE DISTRIBUTION OF LOW-TI LUNAR BASALT NORTHWEST AFRICA 8632:  M. J. Cato1, A. L. Fagan, and J. Gross.

40AR/39AR AGES vs. METEOROID DEPTH IN MURCHISON (CM2): A TEST OF THE SOLAR HEATING HYPOTHESIS:  J. S. Delaney B. Turrin , F. N. Lindsay , J. Park2, , G. F. Herzog , and C. C. Swisher III.

40Ar/39Ar AGES OF NAKHLITES MILLER RANGE (MIL) 090030, 090032 AND 090136: 
J. Park1, L. E. Nyquist, G. F. Herzog, B. D. Turrin, F. N. Lindsay, J. S. Delaney, C. C. Swisher III.

40AR/39AR AGES OF CARBONACEOUS XENOLITHS IN HED METEORITES NORTHWEST AFRICA 6475 AND NORTHWEST AFRICA 6695:  B.D. Turrin1, F. N. Lindsay, J. Park2, G. F. Herzog, J. S. Delaney, C. C. Swisher III, J. Johnson , and M. Zolensky

The Paris contingen t:

NORTHWEST AFRICA 10414, A PIGEONITE CUMULATE SHERGOTTITE:  R.H. Hewins, B. Zanda, S. Pont.

 

SAMARIUM ISOTOPIC CONSTRAINTS FOR AN EARLY COMPACTION AGE OF NORTHWEST AFRICA 7533:  M. Humayun, H. Hidaka, S. Yoneda, C. Göpel, B. Zanda, and R. H. Hewins5.

 

THE GERMANIUM DICHOTOMY IN MARTIAN METEORITES:  M. Humayun, S. Yang, K. Righter, B. Zanda, and R. H. Hewins.