Ms Charlotte Bays

PhD title: Understanding the Effects of Thermal Metamorphism on the Water and Organic Contents of Primitive Carbonaceous Chondrites

My PhD focuses on the effects of thermal metamorphism on the organic/inorganic components and water within primitive carbonaceous chondrite meteorites, which contain some of the first materials to form in our solar system approximately 4.6 billion years ago.

I will be travelling to Japan to work alongside JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) scientists and academics from Tohoku University, to conduct experimental heating procedures on various samples. This study offers crucial insights into the ongoing sample-return missions, Hayabusa2 (JAXA) and OSIRIS-REx (NASA), which have sampled heated asteroids, with supervisors being on the sample analysis teams.

Hayabusa2: https://www.hayabusa2.jaxa.jp/en/ & https://www2.kek.jp/imss/news/hayabusa2/index_en.html

OSIRIS-REx: https://www.nasa.gov/osiris-rex

Analytical techniques such as X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), infrared, Raman spectroscopy, nanoscale secondary ion mass spectrometry (NanoSIMS), and X-ray absorption near edge structure ((XANES) at the UK’s national synchrotron science facility, Diamond Light Source at Harwell), will be used to collect data on the mineralogy, chemical, isotopic and organic compositions of various samples.

Publications

Drake, S. M., Brown, D. J., Beard, A. D., Kumlertsakul. P., Thompson, D. J., Bays, C. L., Millar, I. L., K., M., Goodenough (Submitted). Catastrophic caldera-forming eruptions and climate perturbations: the result of tectonic and magmatic controls on the Paleocene-Eocene Kilchrist Caldera, Isle of Skye, NW Scotland, Volcanica.

Dobson. D., Bays, C.L., (in preparation), Physically jammed pseudotachylite-hosted breccias, Journal of Structural Geology.

Grants

2019) Paneth Meteorite Trust Award (Royal Astronomical Society - £1,900) for the project entitled, ‘The electron microprobe identification of impact derived exotic mineral phases in the Isle of Skye meteorite ejecta layer’.

Conferences

Downes, H., Bays, C. L., Thompson, J. T., (2021) ‘Lanzarote (Canary Islands) as an analog for a virtual rover mission’ (Abstract and Poster), Terrestrial Analogs for Planetary Exploration Workshop, Lunar and Planetary Institute/USRA.