Earth & Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta

Christopher D Herd

Publications

• Walton, E.L., Kelley, S.P. and Herd, C.D.K. (2008) Isotopic and petrographic evidence for young Martian basalts. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, In Press (Corrected Proof)
• Herd, C.D.K., Froese, D.G., Walton, E.L., Kofman, R.S., Herd, E.P.K. and Duke, M.J.M. (2008). Anatomy of a young impact event in central Alberta, Canada: Prospects for the missing Holocene impact record. Geology, v. 36, 955-958, doi: 10.1130/G25236A.1 (In Press).
• Herd, C.D.K. (2008) Basalts as Probes of Planetary Interior Redox State, in Vol 68, Oxygen in the Solar System, Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry, Mineralogical Society of America, Chantilly, Virginia.
• Shearer, C.K., Burger, P.V., Papike, J.J., Borg, L.E., Irving, A.J. and Herd, C.D.K. (2008) Petrogenetic linkages among martian basalts: Implications based on trace element chemistry of olivine. Meteoritics and Planetary Science, v. 43, 1241-1258.
• Herd, C.D.K. (2006) Insights into the redox history of the NWA 1068/1110 martian basalt from mineral equilibria and vanadium oxybarometry. American Mineralogist, v. 91, 1616-1627

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Research area

Mineralogy and Petrology of meteorites from Mars and analogous rocks from the Earth, Moon and asteroids

Research interest

Comparative Planetology is the comparison of samples from the Earth with those from Mars, the Moon and asteroids, and is the guiding principle of Dr. Herd's research. This principle can lead to significant insights into the processes of planetary formation and differentiation, and can tell us more about the geologic histories of the terrestrial planets than if we had samples exclusively from only one of them. Dr. Herd is a specialist in the petrogenesis of martian meteorites, with a particular focus on their redox conditions of formation, the involvement of water in their petrogeneses, and the nature of the mantle sources from which they are ultimately derived. His approach is to investigate these aspects through the microbeam analysis of martian meteorite samples, complemented by low- and high-pressure experimental petrology studies of synthetic martian magma compositions and investigations of similar and analogous rocks from other planetary bodies including the Earth.

Dr. Herd is the curator of the University of Alberta Meteorite Collection, the largest University-based meteorite collection in Canada. The collection provides significant opportunities for research on a wide variety of samples from other planetary bodies in the Solar System, including pristine, frozen samples of the Tagish Lake (B.C.) meteorite, and the iron meteorites found associated with the Whitecourt impact crater.

For information on meteorite identification, please click here (pdf).

Research opportunity

I am currently looking for graduate students for the following projects:

• Identification of mantle and crustal components in martian meteorites through microbeam analyses
• U-Pb geochronology of baddeleyite in martian meteorites
• The effect of redox conditions and bulk composition on the "spinel gap" in martian magmas
• The partitioning of Co during planetary basalt crystallization
• Mineralogy, petrology and geochemistry of the Tagish Lake meteorite
• Field and laboratory studies of the Whitecourt meteorite impact crater

School

University of New Mexico