Findings and Recommendations - Basic Research Opportunities in Earth Science - page 84

from the recommendations of the National Science Board's Task Force on the
Environment. Substantial effort will be needed to undertake the cross-disciplinary
training required by geobiological inquiry (see “Education” below).
Earth and Planetary Materials
Research on Earth and planetary materials has emerged as a field distinct
from, but highly complementary to, the well-established disciplines of
geochemistry, geophysics, and petrology that are currently among the core
programs at EAR. The major research domains encompass mineral physics,
planetary materials research and their interfaces with geomicrobiology, soil
science, and biomineralization (including nanocrystalline phases), rock physics,
mineral and rock magnetism, and the science of mineral surfaces. The Earth and
planetary materials community is identified through its use of distinct tools and
methodologies characterized by an atomistic approach and its reliance on major
experimental facilities. It serves the geophysical, geochemical, and geological
communities, yet shares a close kinship with communities in chemistry, materials
science, and condensed-matter physics. The laboratory-based measurements by
researchers in this community are essential for the quantitative interpretation of
observations of the Earth and planetary bodies made by geochemists,
geophysicists, mineralogists, petrologists, and soil scientists.
The committee has identified a number of opportunities for new research
emphases in Earth and planetary materials:
• biomineralization (natural growth of minerals within organisms, as well as
applications to the development of synthetic analogues),
• characterization of extraterrestrial samples (e.g., returns from Mars,
comets, and interplanetary space),
• superhigh-pressure (terapascal) research, with applications to planetary
and stellar interiors,
• nonlinear interactions and interfacial phenomena in rocks (e.g., strain
localization; nonlinear wave propagation; fluid-mineral reactions, whether
with aqueous fluids, magmatic fluids, or both; and coupling of chemical
reactions and fracturing),
• nanophases and interfaces, including microbiology at interfaces (e.g.,
catalyzing or modulating geochemical reactions) and applications to the
physics and chemistry of soils,
• quantum and molecular theory as applied to minerals and their interfaces
(e.g., mineral interactions with fluids and gases) and aggregates (rocks and
soils), and