MAIL  IMS

ପୃଥିବୀ ଏବଂ ଗ୍ରହ ବିଜ୍ଞାନ ବିଭାଗ
ଜାତୀୟ ବିଜ୍ଞାନ ଶିକ୍ଷା ଏବଂ ଗବେଷଣା ପ୍ରତିଷ୍ଠାନ

पृथ्वी और ग्रह विज्ञान विभाग
राष्ट्रीय विज्ञान शिक्षा एवं अनुसंधान संस्थान

SCHOOL OF EARTH & PLANETARY SCIENCES
NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE EDUCATION AND RESEARCH
 

Planetary Sciences

Cosmochemistry

Early History and Evolution of the Solar System

One of the open questions in cosmochemistry is understanding the conditions under which our solar system formed and the processes happening during the first 10 Myrs of its formation. A direct way to answer this question is study grains found within primitive meteorites that represent the dust in the proto-solar nebula and also the phases that formed at different stages during the evolution of the proto-solar disk. We study the micro- to nanometer scale structure and chemical and isotope composition of these rare grains (i.e., pre-solar and refractory grains) using various high-end analytical instruments.

Flux of extraterrestrial Materials to Earth in the Past

It has been a challenge to link past astronomical events with large scale climate or other changes on the Earth. However, recent study of sediment dispersed extraterrestrial chome-spinel (SEC) grains within sea floor sediments from different geologic time periods has resulted in successfully reconstructing the meteorite flux to Earth for eighteen timewindows from the past 500 Myr. This has resulted in various exciting observation one of them being the connection of the ~466 Myr break up of the L-chondrite parent asteroid with the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event. We are studying SEC grains obtained from sedimentary rocks present in India belonging to specific time windows.

Laboratory Simulations of Space Weathering on the Moon, Asteroids and Mercury

The surface of asteroids, Moon, Mercury, Phobos, etc are continuously bombarded by dust grains, energetic solar wind and solar and galactic cosmic ray particles due to absence of an atmosphere and a magnetic field. This changes the surface properties (i.e., optical, structural and chemical) with time which is known as space weathering (SW). SW is also the reason that prevents connecting meteorites to their parent asteroids and it holds the clue to formation of water on the Moon. We experimentally simulate the process of SW in the laboratory using ion implanters and nano- to femtosecond pulsed laser beams and study the changes using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and Raman spectroscopy.
Related Faculty Member(s)
Surya Snata Rout's Photo
Dr. Surya Snata Rout