Changes in Mineralogy and Geochemistry of Quartz and Feldspars in Response to Impact Cratering

Impact cratering is an important geologic process that has affected all objects in the Solar System. The goal of this work is to understand how this process affects the mineralogy and geochemistry of planetary surfaces. Studies of extraterrestrial materials (e.g., laboratory studies of meteorites) and studies of planetary surfaces via orbiter or lander missions encounter impacted and shocked materials. Therefore, knowing how this secondary process of cratering has altered the rocks and minerals is critical to our ability to deconvolve the secondary effects of shock from the original primary geology. Specifically, I seek to understand impact metamorphism in three ways: 1) identification and characterization of impact materials using a variety of optical and spectroscopic techniques, 2) identification and characterization of the mineralogical structure changes and mechanisms associated with impact cratering and 3) constraining how structural changes affect geochemistry, particularly our ability to obtain radiometric dates of these samples.