This symposia is scheduled in conjunction with the 2021 Fall Meeting of the American Chemical Society.
Macromolecular carbon (MMC) is ubiquitous in our solar system and has been identified and characterized in a wide variety of materials including carbonaceous chondrites (CC’s), cometary dust particles, and ancient terrestrial rocks. These materials have been subject to considerable study, yet MMC formation pathways, metamorphic and alteration trends, and the means to clearly discern the origins of MMC types remain unclear. This symposium will explore how macromolecular carbon (MMC) evolves as a result of thermal, aqueous, radiolytic, and oxidative processing over time. We will highlight current state of the art technologies and the latest modeling efforts to characterize and study MMC, to constrain how organic molecules evolve into MMC, and to determine what signatures of their origins remain in matured materials.
Inquiries should be directed to the symposium organizers:
Dina M. Bower
University of Maryland
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Email: dina.m.bower@nasa.gov
Andrew Steele
Carnegie Institution for Science Email: asteele@carnegiescience.edu
Marc D. Fries
NASA Johnson Space Center Email: marc.d.fries@nasa.gov