Dr. James Darling (University of Portsmouth)
The timescales of planetary differentiation and meteorite impact bombardment remain major unknowns in our understanding of the geological evolution and habitability of the terrestrial planets. Martian and Lunar meteorites offer unique opportunities to study these events, but their petrological and geochemical records are obscured by shock metamorphism that occurs during earthward launch. Recent advances using martian and terrestrial impact structure samples show that this problem can be solved by combining nanoscale mineralogical, structural and isotopic analysis of dateable accessory minerals. This allows us to unambiguously resolve primary magmatic ages and isotopic signatures from the timing and effects of impact events for the first time. This understanding is now being applied to a wide-range of planetary samples.