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Ames Associate Fellow

Rick Guidice illustration of Earth and the sun

2016 Ames Associate Fellow Seminar by David Blake

The Importance of Minerals and Mineral Structure to the Natural History of the Biogenic Element

Carbon, oxygen and hydrogen are critical elements needed for life as we know it and are key elements in the search for habitable worlds. NASA Ames Research Center is a leader in the search for habitable planets and the search for life in the Universe. In his presentation, Dr. David Blake will talk about the preservation and nature of the mineral-biogenic element interaction over the course of time.

The Ames Associate Fellow is an honorary designation given to a NASA Ames employee in recognition of their scientific or engineering research excellence and contribution to NASA and our research center. Dr. David Blake is an expert in the field of in-situ mineralogical analysis and is recognized for his work as the Principal Investigator of CheMin XRD/XRF instrument on Mars Science Laboratory (MSL).

Abstract:
The natural history of the biogenic elements, from their origin in stars to their ultimate incorporation into primitive organisms, is intimately connected to minerals and mineral structure. Examples of mineral-biogenic element interactions include: 1) Containing or preserving evidence of their history (e.g., pre-solar grains); 2) Controlling or catalyzing the synthesis of biogenic compounds (e.g., water ice in cold molecular clouds or serpentinization in ultramafic rocks); and 3) As thermodynamic phases with known stability ranges of pressure, temperature and chemical activity, preserving evidence of life and of habitable environments in ancient rocks. Blake will provide case histories of these relationships from his research at Ames on carbonaceous chondrite meteorites, interstellar ice analogs, Mars meteorites, 3.7 billion year old Martian mudstones and terrestrial analogs of these environments.

Biography:
David Blake received a B.S. in Biological Sciences from Stanford University in 1973. After serving in the US Navy, he attended the University of Michigan, where he received a Ph.D. in Geology & Mineralogy in 1983. He came to Ames Research Center as a NRC postdoctoral fellow and became a research scientist in the Exobiology Branch in 1989. At Ames, he has studied astrophysical ices, interplanetary dust, Mars meteorites, lunar soils, stratospheric soot and the geology and mineralogy of ancient habitable environments on Mars. He received NASA’s Exceptional Scientific Achievement medal in 1998 for his work on astrophysical ices and the origin of biogenic compounds. Dr. Blake received the Government Invention of the Year awards in 2010 and 2013 for technology developments leading to the miniaturization of X-ray Diffraction instruments. He was the Principal Investigator of the CheMin XRD/XRF instrument on the Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity. In 2013, Dr. Blake received NASA’s Outstanding Leadership Medal for his 20 year development of the CheMin instrument, which resulted in the first quantitative mineralogy of the Mars surface and discovery of the first habitable environment on Mars.