Revealing the Nanoscale Geochemistry of an Antarctic Micrometeorite with Atom Probe Tomography

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dc.contributorFries, Marc
dc.contributorGenareau, Kimberly
dc.contributorPérez-Huerta, Alberto
dc.contributor.advisorCartwright, Julia A
dc.contributor.authorBoyd, Mark Robert
dc.contributor.otherUniversity of Alabama Tuscaloosa
dc.date.accessioned2022-02-04T20:16:41Z
dc.date.available2022-02-04T20:16:41Z
dc.date.issued2021
dc.descriptionElectronic Thesis or Dissertationen_US
dc.description.abstractMicrometeorites (MMs) retrieved from the Earth’s surface commonly undergo frictional heating as they enter the atmosphere. The compositional and textural effects of this heat-processing have been well documented and can be observed on the micrometre (μm)-scale, including the formation of iron-rich shells or the depletion of volatile elements, such as zinc. Atom probe tomography (APT) is a technique that has the capability to explore nanometre (nm)-scale features within such materials by producing three-dimensional (3D) compositional maps, displaying trends that may have been undetectable at lower resolutions. Here, we present the successful application of APT to an Antarctic MM, which we believe to be the first use of this technique on cosmic dust. From our MM sample, 11 tips were analysed from 2 sites, displaying nm-scale trends from the core to the rim. Many of the tips show interesting features, for example, one tip (A-M5) has a compositional boundary highlighted by clear elemental differences, consistent with core-rim partitioning, while a second tip (B-M1) shows evidence for a grain boundary adjacent to a carbon-rich region. We discuss our findings in the context of previously described processes, such as the presence of temperature gradients, which occur during atmospheric entry. We find evidence of thermal processing that we believe has caused nm-scale features along a textural boundary and heterogeneous elemental distributions, which may indicate unmelted material. These features may represent atmospheric entry indicators, which would suggest that entry processing affects MMs on the nm-scale. This could have implications for the delivery of sub-μm phases to planetary bodies via cosmic dust, and their survival during atmospheric entry.en_US
dc.format.mediumelectronic
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.identifier.otherhttp://purl.lib.ua.edu/181733
dc.identifier.otheru0015_0000001_0004023
dc.identifier.otherBoyd_alatus_0004M_14658
dc.identifier.urihttp://ir.ua.edu/handle/123456789/8298
dc.languageEnglish
dc.language.isoen_US
dc.publisherUniversity of Alabama Libraries
dc.relation.hasversionborn digital
dc.relation.ispartofThe University of Alabama Electronic Theses and Dissertations
dc.relation.ispartofThe University of Alabama Libraries Digital Collections
dc.rightsAll rights reserved by the author unless otherwise indicated.en_US
dc.subjectatmospheric entry
dc.subjectatom probe tomography
dc.subjectcosmic dust
dc.subjectcosmochemistry
dc.subjectmicrometeorite
dc.titleRevealing the Nanoscale Geochemistry of an Antarctic Micrometeorite with Atom Probe Tomographyen_US
dc.typethesis
dc.typetext
etdms.degree.departmentUniversity of Alabama. Department of Geological Sciences
etdms.degree.disciplinePlanetology
etdms.degree.grantorThe University of Alabama
etdms.degree.levelmaster's
etdms.degree.nameM.S.

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