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LLE: Nano-scale Characterizations of Ancient Mars Minerals and Earth Copper: Stories of Corrosion and Resilience (Desmond Moser, Western)
March 9, 2022 @ 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
External members are required to register to receive the link and passcode. Registration closes at 9am on March 7: tinyurl.com/mar9LLE
Desmond Moser, Western
Host: Prof. Jane Howe
The characterization of long-lived minerals, including natural metal deposits of copper, and their corrosion behaviours is an area of shared interest among geo- and materials scientists. This is particularly true in regard to transdisciplinary efforts to improve the design of multi-barrier Deep Geological Repositories for spent nuclear fuel. Examples of our application of micro- and nano-characterization techniques (e.g. EBSD, SIMS, Atom Probe Tomography) will be presented for a range of geomaterials including > 4 billion-year-old weakly-radioactive minerals in Martian meteorites and 1 billion-year-old copper from Earth.
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Professor Desmond Moser has spent most of his career unraveling the evolution of ancient planetary crusts using weakly radioactive and highly resilient microminerals. Increasingly his group is directing their expertise to help understand all aspects of the long-lived natural materials important to designing multi-barrier Deep Geological Repositories for spent nuclear fuel.
Prof. Moser conducts solid Earth and planetary science research using Western’s nationally unique Zircon and Accessory Phase Laboratory (ZAPLab). Micromineral crystal growth and deformation analysis (e.g. CL, EBSD) is integrated with field mapping, microchemical (EDS, WDS), petrologic and mass spectrometry measurements (radiogenic and stable isotopes) at Western and partner institutes. His active projects investigate meteorites, crustal cross-sections, kimberlite xenoliths, sedimentary basins and impact structures in the Americas, Africa and Europe. His ZAPLab team is advancing our knowledge of the timing and nature of processes that form and modify planetary crusts and ore deposits while advancing the growing sub-discipline of accessory mineral science.