Martian meteorites are our only current samples available to study from Mars in Earth-based laboratories (e.g., Udry et al. 2020). Most martian meteorites are igneous rocks (= solidified from magma or lava) and preserve information about magmatic and volcanic processes on Mars. More broadly, martian meteorites can help us understand the evolution of the martian interior and crust. My research currently focuses on 1) nakhlites and 2) shergottites.  

1) Nakhlites are clinopyroxene-rich cumulate rocks with shared crystallization and ejection ages (Udry and Day 2018), suggesting the 33 samples come from the same location on Mars, making them the largest single-origin suite of rocks we have from another planetary body. My work on the nakhlites focuses on constraining how they were emplaced at or near the martian surface (Ramsey et al. JGR:Planets, in review) using 2D and 3D quantitative textural analyses. I am also interested in reconstructing the parental melt composition and evolution of the nakhlites using melt inclusions (Ramsey et al. 2024, MAPS). 

2) Shergottites are the most abundant group of martian meteorites, and are mafic to ultramafic lavas and cumulates. The shergottites can be subdivided into groups based on their light rare earth elements (i.e., depleted, intermediate, and enriched) and texture. I focus on the olivine-phyric  (Ramsey et al. 2021, MAPS) and poikilitic textural subgroups to better understand the relationships between the geochemical reservoirs and among the textural subgroups, which are still poorly constrained. I am currently conducting a comprehensive study on three new poikilitic shergottites using 2D and 3D analytical methods to place these samples into a broader planetary context, from mantle mantling to final solidification in subsurface intrusions, especially in light of recent work on the shergottites (Benaroya and Gross 2025). 

Additionally, I often study recently discovered martian meteorites to constrain their petrogenesis on Mars and their relationship with previously studied samples, thereby placing them in a broader, planetary context. New meteorites also offer ideal opportunities for student research, both inside and outside the classroom.