Colloquium: Katherine Bermingham

Solar System and planetary evolution: A genetic investigation

Katherine Bermingham, Research Associate, Department of Geology, University of Maryland

Abstract - Identifying the chemical origins of the Solar System and the building blocks of planetary bodies are important objectives of cosmochemistry. An active area of research focuses on gathering high precision isotope data from meteorites and their components to constrain the degree of isotope heterogeneity in the circumstellar disk and possible stellar contributors. These isotope data, when coupled with terrestrial isotope data, can also potentially be used to constrain the general categories of late accretionary material to Earth. The main focus of this talk will be discussing the development and application of high precision isotope methods (Ba and Ru) that can be used to identify genetically the building blocks of the circumstellar disk, Earth, and Moon.