The mission of the Department of Mineral Sciences is to study the origin and evolution of the Earth and Solar System, Earth processes and their products, and the effects of geologic and meteoritic phenomena on Earth's atmosphere and biosphere. We disseminate the results of our research both to the scientific community through scholarly publications and to the public through exhibits, electronic media, and public lectures. We have in our care premier research collections of minerals, meteorites, rocks, ores, and volcano data/images. We strive to maximize their availability to the scientific community, and we use specimens from these collections to best effect in our own research and exhibits.
Division of Meteorites
Meteorites provide both our best clues to the early formation of the Solar System and ground truth for comparison to results of missions to Mars, asteroids and comets. In the Division of Meteorites, researchers exploit the full potential of meteorites to understand processes ranging from condensation in the solar nebula through differentiation of asteroids to volcanological processes operating on Mars. At the center of all of this research are meteorites in the U.S. National Meteorite Collection and those collected by the U.S. Antarctic Meteorite Program. more...
[ TOP ]