Analytical cosmochemistry: 1965-2010

Abstract

Cosmochemistry is predominantly observational and analytical. Many extraterrestrial materials are complex mixtures. Very small grains within these may carry unique signatures of early solar system conditions, events, and processes. The isolation and analyses of presolar materials are the best examples of this. Evolving from the days of mass spectra on strip charts analyzed with a magnifying glass, a 9H pencil and a Marchant calculator, the development of the first mass spectrometers with computerized data acquisiton by Wasserburg and Papanastassiou was driven by the recognition that potentially unfavorable parent/daughter ratios in meteoritic and lunar materials required another decimal point in the precision of isotopic ratios for geochronological purposes. The obvious importance of trace element and isotopic analysis in small areas of relatively rare, but not always perfectly preserved, meteoritical materials such as Ca- Al-rich inclusions spurred the development of ion probes.

Additional details