Earth, Atmosphere & Environment Sciences
Title : | Belgium-India Research Group on Meteorites and Impact Craters (BIGMaC) |
Area of research : | Earth, Atmosphere & Environment Sciences |
Focus area : | Planetary Science and Geology |
Principal Investigator : | Prof. Ramananda Chakrabarti, Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore, Karnataka (560012) |
Contact info : | ramananda@iisc.ac.in |
Details
Executive Summary : | Impact craters are a common feature on planetary bodies and provide an analog for lunar and martian craters. The Lonar crater, located in India's Deccan flood basalts, is the best-known terrestrial impact crater on basalts. The impact origin of the crater has been established based on evidence of shock-metamorphosed material. Recent geochemical studies have shown minimal elemental fractionation between target rocks and the impactites, with the impactor being chondritic. A detailed combined isotopic and geochemical study on characterizing all impact-related rocks at Lonar is lacking. This proposal aims to provide a broad understanding of the geochemical and isotopic effects of impact cratering on basalts, which has implications for interpreting data acquired by recent Rovers missions to Mars and future lander missions to the Moon by multiple space agencies. The network aims to cross-fertilize competences by organizing lab visits in Brussels and Bangalore, exchanging researchers, trading laboratory expertise, and uniting the two groups around the study of impact craters and meteorites. |
Total Budget (INR): | 18,56,000 |
Organizations involved