Deepak Binu Beena

Project title

Tracing the FLUX of cosmic dust arriving on Earth during the Phanerozoic

Research topic

Dust-sized extraterrestrial materials that have survived Earth’s atmospheric heating and reached the surface are known as Micrometeorites. They can be collected from polar regions, deep seas and even from the rooftop of buildings. Following this; the micrometeorites can also be recovered from the past geological time period and they are termed as fossil micrometeorites. In the ERC-CoG FLUX project, we aim to extract fossil micrometeorites from selected intervals across the Phanerozoic, to trace the flux of extraterrestrial material to Earth through time. Studies with the help of SEM, XRF, Raman, EPMA, SIMS to unlock the reasons behind the cosmic dust producing events in the Solar System. As large events took place in our solar system, there may be a chance of it giving a huge impact to the environment and climate of earth. So, the extensive study will help to identify the global changes caused by these micrometeorites. Collaboration of various scientific fields such as petrology, mineralogy, stratigraphy and geochemistry will be used to get a more accurate result. 

Education

• M.Sc. in Marine Geology – Cochin University of Science and Technology, Kerala, India. 2024
• B.Sc. in Geology – University College, Kerala, India. 2022

Publication

A.V. Satyakumar., Deepak B B., (2024). Volcanic Eruptions and Tectonic Activity of Aitken Crater: Implications for SPA and Farside Volcanism of the Moon: Journal of the Indian Society of Remote Sensing. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12524-024-01979-y

Supervisor

Prof. Dr. Steven Goderis