How did carbon-based life develop on Earth, and how might we recognize other potentially habitable planetary bodies? We start by seeking to understand the sources and mechanisms for the origin of Earth’s life-essential volatile elements. Experiments explore the conditions and compositions of both the early Earth and meteorites to constrain the timing, mechanisms and volatile element budget of the early inner Solar System.
We also seek to understand the landscapes and chemical environments on early Earth and other planetary bodies at the time when life developed. In particular, we consider the thermal and magmatic conditions, surface processes and environments, and volatile and fluid chemistry, and how they changed and cycled through time. Alteration of planetary bodies is one of the key processes that controls the evolution and transport of volatiles in the early solar system. Many of these processes are preserved in meteorites, lunar samples, and samples analyzed in-situ and to be returned from Mars, which allows us to track the fluid-rock interactions that occurred during the formation and early evolution of our solar system’s planetary bodies.