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My broad research centers on better understanding the origins and evolution of earth and planetary systems. Our group apply multiple/complementary methods to characterize detailed structural, chemical, mineralogical and isotopic information of earth and planetary materials to better understand their formation and subsequent evolution.
• The role of minerals in controlling ore-forming process
An ore deposit is an aggregate of minerals that can be economically recoverable and utilized. The nature and origin of ore metals and ore-forming fluids can be determined by investigating their crystal structure, chemical composition, isotopes of minerals combined with their texture, generation, and paragenetic association. Our objective is to apply mineralogical, geochemical, isotopic, and geochronological investigations to better understand the mechanisms and processes of ore-forming processes in various types of mineral deposits. The research projects deepen and broaden our knowledge of the ore-forming process in the earth and planetary systems.
• Mineralogy, Spectroscopy, and Isotopic Investigations of meteorites and asteroids
Primitive asteroids and meteorites provide important insight into the origin of life and the early history of the solar system. Analog studies are needed in order to understand the mineralogical and chemical changes that occur in space-weathered samples for the analysis of returned samples. We conduct a coordinated mineralogical, chemical, petrological, and spectroscopic study to examine in detail the effects of space weathering processes on primitive carbonacous chondrite as an analog to the processes that may have occurred in primitive asteroids.
• Amorphous phases and nano-minerals in earth and planetary systems
Amorphous phases and nano-minerals are common and widely distributed in various earth and planetary environments, such as soils, sediments, waters, rocks, and the atmosphere, as well as in living organisms. These poorly crystallized phases play essential roles in many geological processes involving the adsorption and transport of ions, redox processes, metabolism, and global element cycling. However, it is challenging to measure and describe their structure, especially when structures include short-range ordering, defects, and local domains. We have applied multiple or complementary methods to better understand the amorphous phases and nanominerals, including crystal structure, interface, and surface behaviors. One of the interesting results is that the new nanominerals of luogufengite (Xu et al. 2017), valleyite (Lee et al. 2019), and Xuite (Lee & Guo 2021) were discovered using the combined method.
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