Dr. Gabriel Pinto

Project: 

Tracing differentiation processes through siderophile elements, from meteorites to giant ore deposits

Research summary: 

I have been involved in the research area of meteoritics and cosmochemistry for the last seven years. During my Ph.D. thesis, I studied chondrites and chondrules through petrographic descriptions, major and minor element composition, in situ oxygen isotope analyses, and astrophysical modeling. The aim of my PhD was to constrain different aspects associated with the recycling of chondrules and the accretion events of chondrites in the early Solar System. I am also interested in research topics related to “parachute sciences” or “neocolonialism sciences” in South America, the weathering, distribution, and accumulation of meteorites in the Atacama Desert, and the processes of bio-weathering and microorganism colonization in chondrites. I am currently working on the distribution of siderophile elements, including the platinum group elements (Os, Ir, Ru, Rh, Pt, Pd), gold (Au), and rhenium (Re), within terrestrial rocks and meteorites through LA-QQQ-ICP-MS and ICP-MS. I am also developing Os stable isotope analysis, using the Triton plus TIMS, to constrain the late veneer isotopic signatures.

Keywords:

Meteorites, chondrules, chondrites, stable isotopes, Atacama Desert, hot desert meteorites, asteroid accretion, siderophile elements, platinum group elements

Education:

• - PhD in Geosciences, Université de Lorraine, Nancy, France, 2023

• - BSc. in Geology, Universidad Católica del Norte, Antofagasta, Chile, 2017