Mineralogy staff directory

Current activities

My scientific objective is to use cosmochemical techniques to investigate the formation and evolution of the solar system and other planetary systems. Ongoing research projects are listed below.

Timescales in the early solar system

The timescales involved in the formation of early solids and the solar system and accretion and differentiation of planets can be measured using extinct isotopes that were present in the early solar system. Chronometers that have been used for this aim include I-Xe and Al-Mg. We are currently setting up a new Micromass ICP-MS to measure the relative age dates of meteoritic material using the Mn-Cr and Fe-Ni systems. This project is being undertaken in collaboration with Rachael James, NHM.

Oxygen reservoirs in the early solar system

The oxygen in the early solar system is known to have been isotopically heterogeneous, and differences in bulk oxygen isotope composition between meteorites are used in their classification. Using a UV laser ablation system, oxygen isotopes are being measured in situ in CAIs and chondrules to investigate the nature of the isotopic heterogeneity. This work is being undertaken in collaboration with Dr Ed Young, Oxford University.

Presolar grains in meteorites

Some meteorites contain grains that predate our solar system; they formed around stars that were ancestors to our own solar system, and survived passage through the interstellar medium to become incorporated into meteorites. I am collaborating in an ongoing study, with Ian Franchi at the Open University and Anton Kearsley and Giles Graham at Oxford Brookes University, to determine the exact location of these grains by in situ meteorite mapping.

The distribution of Al-rich objects in meteorites

Al-rich objects – CAIs and Al-rich chondrule– may hold the key to understanding the chronology and early history of the solar system. CAIs may be among the oldest solids in the solar system and Al-rich chondrules have been widely dated using the Al-Mg chronometer. However, the relationship between these objects and the more abundant material contained within chondrites – chondrules and matrix– is unclear. I am systematically determining the abundance and characteristics of these Al-rich objects in the variety of meteorite types to shed further light on their origins and distribution in the early solar system.

Other Posts or Honoraria

	NASA cosmochemistry panel - Member

Additional information

• Editor of Protostars and Planets IV, published by University of Arizona Press in 2000.
• An organiser of the DPS meeting in Padua, Italy, October 1999, an IAU symposium on the formation of planetary systems, Manchester, August 2000, and a Royal Society meeting on early solids in the solar system, February 2001.
• I am a collaborating scientist on the Beagle 2 project for Mars Express.

Publications

E.D. Young and S. S. Russell (1998) Oxygen reservoirs in the early solar nebula: Implications of laser microprobe analyses of an Allende CAI. Science 282, 452-455.

McKeegan, K.D., Leshin L.A., Russell S.S., MacPherson G.J. (1998) Oxygen isotopic abundances in calcium-aluminum-rich inclusions from ordinary chondrites: Implications for nebular heterogeneity. Science, 280 414-418.

S. S. Russell, T. McCoy, R. D. Ash and E. Jarosevich (1998) The Burnwell (H4) meteorite. Meteoritics and Planetary Sciences, 33, 853-856.

C.M.O’D. Alexander, S.S. Russell, J. W. Arden, R.D. Ash, M.M. Grady and C.T. Pillinger (1998) C and N isotopic compositions of acid-resistant organic material in chondrites. Meteoritics and Planetary Science, 33, 603-622.

S.S. Russell, G.R. Huss, A.J. Fahey, R.C. Greenwood, R. Hutchison and G.J. Wasserburg (1998) An isotopic and petrologic study of calcium-aluminium-rich inclusions from CO3 meteorites. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 62, 689-714.

S. S. Russell and A. P. Boss (1998) Protostars and planets. Science 281, 932-933 (invited editorial).

S. S. Russell (1998) Sorting stardust. Nature 395, 325-327 (invited editorial).

S.S. Russell, C.M.O'D. Alexander, U. Ott, E.K. Zinner and C.T. Pillinger (1997) SiC from the Indarch (EH4) meteorite. Meteoritics and Planetary Science 32, 719-732.

S.S. Russell (1997) What use are calcium-aluminum-rich inclusions? Meteoritics and Planetary Sciences 32, 153.

S.S. Russell (1997) Cosmic messages from the Antarctic. Ad Astra vol 9, No. 2, 25-26.

S.S. Russell, G. Srinivasan, G.R. Huss, G.J. Wasserburg and G.J. MacPherson (1996) Evidence for widespread 26Al in the solar nebula and new constraints for nebula timescales. Science, 273, 757-762.

S.S. Russell (1996) Interstellar grains in meteorites. The Observatory, August edition.

S.S. Russell, J.W. Arden and C.T. Pillinger (1996). The carbon and nitrogen isotopic composition of chondritic diamond. Meteoritics and Planetary Science 31, 343-355.

M.R. Lee, S.S. Russell, J.W. Arden, and C.T. Pillinger (1995). Nierite (Si3N4): A new mineral from ordinary and enstatite chondrites. Meteoritics 30 387-398.

S.S. Russell, M.R. Lee, J.W. Arden, and C.T. Pillinger (1995). The isotopic composition and origins of silicon nitride in ordinary and enstatite chondrites. Meteoritics 30, 399-404.

D.D. Clayton, B. Meyer, C. Sanderson, S.S. Russell and C.T. Pillinger (1995). Carbon and nitrogen isotopes in diamonds from Type II Supernovae. Astrophys. J. 447, 894-905.

C.T. Pillinger and S.S. Russell. Interstellar SiC grains in meteorites (1993). J. Chem. Soc. Faraday Trans. 89, 2297-2304.

I. Gilmour, S.S. Russell, J.W. Arden, M.R. Lee and C.T. Pillinger (1992). Terrestrial carbon and nitrogen isotopic ratios from Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary nanodiamonds. Science 258, 1624-1627.

S.S. Russell, J.W. Arden, M.R. Lee, U. Ott, and C.T. Pillinger (1992). A new type of diamond in the enstatite chondrite Abee. Science 256, 206-209.

S.S. Russell, J.W. Arden and C.T. Pillinger (1991). Evidence for multiple sources of chondritic diamond. Science 254, 1188-1191.

I.P. Wright, S.S. Russell, S.R. Boyd, and C.T. Pillinger (1991). Xylan: a potential contaminant in meteorite samples. Proceedings of the Lunar and Planetary Sciences Institute 22, 449-458.