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  • Journal article
    Marlow JJ, Martins Z, Sephton MA, 2008,

    Mars on Earth: soil analogues for future Mars missions

    , ASTRON GEOPHYS, Vol: 49, Pages: 20-23, ISSN: 1366-8781

    Preparations for missions to Mars are a major concern for scientists. Predicting how equipment and experiments will perform on the planet is difficult because tests are restricted to Earth. Mars soil analogues are being used to solve this problem. These terrestrial materials are chemically and physically similar to martian soils and, because they contain unusual minerals and trace amounts of organic matter, are scientifically interesting in their own right. However,no current analogue is appropriate for all necessary tests. Here we describe Mars soil analogues, identify limitations and suggest the need for new Mars simulants.
  • Journal article
    Perry RS, Sephton MA, 2008,

    Solving the mystery of desert varnish with microscopy

    , In Focus, Vol: 11, Pages: 62-76, ISSN: 1750-4740

    In areas such as Death Valley California whole mountains shimmer as light is reflected from widespread coatings of black opalescent desert varnish (Figure 1). Similar desert varnishes have been found on all continents, in locations such as the Gobi (Figure 2), Sonoran, Mojave, Namibian (Figure 3), Victorian and Atacama Deserts. These dark, lustrous coatings have attracted the interest of scientists for centuries. In 1852, the German naturalist and explorer Alexander Humboldt observed desert varnish on a transatlantic expedition and questioned how this enigmatic feature may have formed. His contemporary, Charles Darwin also engaged in the search for explanations for this unusual rock coating and, in 1871, attempted to satisfy his interest by performing chemical analyses. To date many other noteworthy scientists have examined desert varnish and have commented on its bulk chemistry, the arid conditions in which it forms in and the concentration of manganese that makes it opaque and causes it to be black.
  • Book chapter
    Gounell M, Morbidelli A, Bland PA, Spurny P, Young ED, Sephton MAet al., 2008,

    Meteorites from the Outer Solar System?

    , The Solar System Beyond Neptune, Editors: Baruchi MA, Boenhardt H, Cruikshank DP, Morbidelli A, Barucci MA, Boehnhardt H, Cruikshank DP, Morbidelli A, Tucson, Arizona, Publisher: The University of Arizona Press, Pages: 525-541, ISBN: 978-0-8165-2755-7
  • Journal article
    Sephton MA, Carvell RP, Sims MR, Dannatt Let al., 2008,

    The UK’s search for life on Mars

    , ASTRON GEOPHYS, Vol: 49, Pages: 33-36, ISSN: 1366-8781
  • Journal article
    Bada JL, Ehrenfreund P, Grunthaner F, Blaney D, Coleman M, Farrington A, Yen A, Mathies R, Amudson R, Quinn R, Zent A, Ride S, Barron L, Clark B, Glavin D, Hofmann B, Josset JL, Rettberg P, Robert F, Sephton Met al., 2008,

    Urey: Mars organic and oxidant detector

    , SPACE SCI REV, Vol: 135, Pages: 269-279, ISSN: 1572-9672

    One of the fundamental challenges facing the scientific community as we enter this new century of Mars research is to understand, in a rigorous manner, the biotic potential both past and present of this outermost terrestrial-like planet in our solar system. Urey: Mars Organic and Oxidant Detector has been selected for the Pasteur payload of the European Space Agency’s (ESA’s) ExoMars rover mission and is considered a fundamental instrument to achieve the mission’s scientific objectives. The instrument is named Urey in recognition of Harold Clayton Urey’s seminal contributions to cosmochemistry, geochemistry, and the study of the origin of life. The overall goal of Urey is to search for organic compounds directly in the regolith of Mars and to assess their origin. Urey will perform a groundbreaking investigation of the Martian environment that will involve searching for organic compounds indicative of life and prebiotic chemistry at a sensitivity many orders of magnitude greater than Viking or other in situ organic detection systems. Urey will perform the first in situ search for key classes of organic molecules using state-of-the-art analytical methods that provide part-per-trillion sensitivity. It will ascertain whether any of these molecules are abiotic or biotic in origin and will evaluate the survival potential of organic compounds in the environment using state-of-the-art chemoresistor oxidant sensors.
  • Journal article
    Chang L, Roberts AP, Muxworthy AR, Tang Y, Chen Q, Rowan CJ, Liu Q, Pruner Pet al., 2007,

    Magnetic characteristics of synthetic pseudo-single-domain and multi-domain greigite (Fe<sub>3</sub>S<sub>4</sub>)

    , GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, Vol: 34, ISSN: 0094-8276
  • Journal article
    Nielsen SG, Rehkamper M, Brandon AD, Norman MD, Turner S, O'Reilly SYet al., 2007,

    Thallium isotopes in Iceland and Azores lavas -: Implications for the role of altered crust and mantle geochemistry

    , EARTH AND PLANETARY SCIENCE LETTERS, Vol: 264, Pages: 332-345, ISSN: 0012-821X
  • Conference paper
    Chang L, Roberts AP, Muxworthy AR, Tang Y, Chen Q, Rainford BDet al., 2007,

    Fundamental Magnetic Properties from Pure Synthetic Greigite

    , AGU Fall
  • Conference paper
    Muxworthy AR, Heslop D, Michalk D, 2007,

    Thermal fluctuation fields in basalts and the Barbier plot (poster)

    , AGU Fall
  • Conference paper
    Michalk DM, Muxworthy AR, Boehnel H, Nowaczyk N, MacLennan Jet al., 2007,

    Evaluation of the Multispecimen Parallel Differential pTRM Method: A Test on Historical Lavas From Iceland and Mexico (poster)

    , AGU Fall
  • Journal article
    Bland PA, Kearsley AT, Wozniakiewicz PJ, Burchell MJ, Gounelle M, Zolensky ME, Genge MJet al., 2007,

    A comet in the lab

    , ASTRONOMY & GEOPHYSICS, Vol: 48, Pages: 27-31, ISSN: 1366-8781
  • Journal article
    Davison T, Collins GS, 2007,

    The effect of the oceans on the terrestrial crater size-frequency distribution: Insight from numerical modeling

    , METEORITICS & PLANETARY SCIENCE, Vol: 42, Pages: 1915-1927, ISSN: 1086-9379
  • Journal article
    Ripperger S, Rehkaemper M, Porcelli D, Halliday ANet al., 2007,

    Cadmium isotope fractionation in seawater -: A signature of biological activity

    , EARTH AND PLANETARY SCIENCE LETTERS, Vol: 261, Pages: 670-684, ISSN: 0012-821X
  • Journal article
    Sephton MA, Meredith W, Sun C-G, Snape CEet al., 2007,

    Biomedical and forensic applications of combined catalytic hydrogenation-stable isotope ratio analysis

    , Analytical Chemistry Insights, Vol: 2, Pages: 37-42, ISSN: 1177-3901

    Studies of biological molecules such as fatty acids and the steroid hormones have the potential to benefit enormously from stable carbon isotope ratio measurements of individual molecules. In their natural form, however, the body’s molecules interact too readily with laboratory equipment designed to separate them for accurate measurements to be made.Some methods overcome this problem by adding carbon to the target molecule, but this can irreversibly overprint the carbon source ‘signal’. Hydropyrolysis is a newly-applied catalytic technique that delicately strips molecules of their functional groups but retains their carbon skeletons and stereochemistries intact, allowing precise determination of the carbon source. By solving analytical problems, the new technique is increasing the ability of scientists to pinpoint molecular indicators of disease, elucidate metabolic pathways and recognise administered substances in forensic investigations.
  • Conference paper
    Bland PA, Artemieva NA, Bussey DBJ, Collins GS, Joy KHet al., 2007,

    Survival of asteroidal impactor material on the moon

    , 70th Annual Meeting of the Meteoritical-Society, Publisher: WILEY-BLACKWELL, Pages: A19-A19, ISSN: 1086-9379
  • Conference paper
    Baker RGA, Nielsen SG, Rehkamper M, Schonbachler M, Wood BJ, Halliday ANet al., 2007,

    Thallium isotope constraints on Earth's accretion

    , 17th Annual V M Goldschmidt Conference, Publisher: PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD, Pages: A54-A54, ISSN: 0016-7037
  • Conference paper
    Rehkamper M, Schonbachler M, Wombacher F, Baker RGA, Nielsen SG, Williams HMet al., 2007,

    Heavy isotope fractionation in the solar system -: A volatile perspective

    , 17th Annual V M Goldschmidt Conference, Publisher: PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD, Pages: A828-A828, ISSN: 0016-7037
  • Conference paper
    Ripperger S, Rehkamper M, Schiebel R, Halliday ANet al., 2007,

    Cd/Ca ratios of in situ sampled planktonic foraminifera

    , 17th Annual V M Goldschmidt Conference, Publisher: PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD, Pages: A843-A843, ISSN: 0016-7037
  • Conference paper
    Genge MJ, 2007,

    Evidence for shock in micrometeorites

    , 70th Annual Meeting of the Meteoritical-Society, Publisher: METEORITICAL SOC, Pages: A55-A55, ISSN: 1086-9379
  • Conference paper
    Michalk D, Muxworthy AR, 2007,

    New methods of palaeointensity determination: testing the multi-specimen approach

    , Paleomagnetism and the Earth's Deep Interior: Unsolved Problems and Future Challenges

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