Clara Zelinsky

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Most of extraterrestrial (ET) material arrives on Earth in the form of cosmic dust and particles with a diameter of 2 mm. These small particles are called micrometeorites (MM). The flux of ET material to Earth likely changed during the last 4.5 billion years as cosmic dust is produced episodically by asteroid collisions or from comets. Although MM were previously thought not to survive over geological timescales and were therefore neglected in research, recent proof-of-concept studies from the Late Devonian revealed MM as a potentially new tool. Up to date the flux of cosmic dust was primarily reconstructed based on rare relict minerals or geochemical analysis. Analysis of MM preserved in sedimentary rocks seem to be a promising new method to study extraterrestrial fluxes and dynamics in our solar system. 

This PhD project, as part of the broader ERC-funded FLUX project, aims at extracting fossil MM from selected stratigraphic intervals across the Phanerozoic, to quantify the extraterrestrial flux and constrain the sources of cosmic dust and potential effects on climate and the Earth. Furthermore, thorough characterization and analyses (including optical microscopy, SEM-EDS, μXRF, Raman spectroscopy, EPMA, LA-ICP-MS, and SIMS) hopefully leads to the establishment of MM as new high-resolution proxies to better understand the dynamic relationship between Earth and the Solar System. 

FLUX combines expertise in geochemsitry, cosmostratigraphy and meteoritics to answer key questions of this research project. Ultimately, the FLUX project hopes to contribute to better position the Earth in the context of a dynamic Solar System and further constrain causes and consequences of the variation in the flux of cosmic material to Earth.

EDUCATION

• MSc Geoscience (Mineralogy, Petrology and Geochemistry) - University of Tübingen (2024)
• BSc Geoscience – University of Tübingen (2021)

SUPERVISOR

Dr. Steven Goderis (Vrije Universiteit Brussel)