One PhD position available -Fluid Flow in Meteorites - at Imperial College L...

AlexanderRoi

申请帝国理工的博士是需要硕士学位的，本科生还是默默飘过吧.......

Supervisors: Sam Krevor(Imperial College London), Mark A. Sephton (Imperial College London), MonicaGrady (Open University)

• Understand the role of fluid flow and transport on the origin     and evolution of organic matter in meteorites
• Uncover the history of liquid water on Mars
• Receive training in reactive hydrogeology and organic     geochemistry
• Utilize state of the art x-ray imaging, image processing and 3D     modeling techniques.
  

Meteorites are known to be some of the most primitive objects in thesolar system and contain a geochemical record of the birth of the solar system.The most primitive meteorites contain several percent organic matter includingcomplex molecules that may have contributed the original building blocks forlife. Their origin and evolution is a topic of great interest. Several chemicalpathways have been identified whereby the observed complex organic moleculescould be constructed from organic precursor molecules obtained frominterstellar environments. Several important pathways involve reaction in thepresence of water mobilized by heat, and catalyzed on the surfaces of minerals withinthe meteorite. Fluid flow is also important for martian samples andmineralogical remnants of past water are present in meteorites form Mars.

In this projectthe student will use a state of the art instrument capable of micron resolutionx-ray imaging (micro XCT) to construct three dimensional images of carbonaceouschondrite samples. Advanced image processing techniques will be used toidentify the distribution of organic matter and minerals in the samples fromthe image. Analytical organic geochemistry techniques will be used to analysethe chemical composition of organic molecules extracted from the samples.Finally flow and transport properties of water and the organic materials willbe obtained through direct numerical simulation of flow and chemical transport(e.g, diffusion) on the 3D x-ray images. The combined observations will providea detailed picture of the role of water and chemical component transportthrough the meteorite on the origin of the organic material.Similar analyses on martian meteorites will reveal the timing of liquid wateron Mars and its implications for habitability on the red planet.

The project would suit candidates with abackground in earth science, planetary science, chemistry or a subject thatdevelops similar skills. Full training in all necessary techniques will beprovided.

Inquiries are welcome and can be directedto Dr Sam Krevor, email: s.krevor@imperial.ac.uk. Details of how to apply canbe found at: http://www.ic.ac.uk/ese/courses/phdopportunities/phdapplicationprocedure.

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