Structural Characterization of Carbonaceous Meteorites by Micro-Raman Spectroscopy

Presenter Information

Donald Rudquist, Minnesota State University, MankatoFollow

Location

CSU Ballroom

Start Date

11-4-2017 10:00 AM

End Date

11-4-2017 11:30 AM

Student's Major

Physics and Astronomy

Student's College

Science, Engineering and Technology

Mentor's Name

Analia Dall'Asen

Mentor's Department

Physics and Astronomy

Mentor's College

Science, Engineering and Technology

Description

Meteorites provide precious clues about the formation of planets in the solar system. In particular, carbonaceous chondritic meteorites, considered the most primitive surviving materials from the early Solar System, can contribute to understand how planetesimals (the precursors to planets, of 1- 100 km in radius) formed from dust (micron-size grains) by studying their mineralogical composition. These relics are mainly composed of chondrules (micro/millimeter-sized inclusions) surrounded by a matrix of microparticles. The composition of the chondrules and surrounding matrix of this kind of meteorites can be characterized at the microscale using micro-Raman spectroscopy due to its sensitivity to carbon structures. For this purpose, we use a custom-built micro-Raman system that first, has to be tested with well-known materials and then with meteoritic samples. Here we present the results obtained using this Raman system from well-known samples, such as diamond, silicon and fullerenes (C60), and from different carbonaceous meteoritic fragments in order to characterize the structure of their chondrules and surrounding matrix, and thus to analyze their mineralogical composition.