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Cara K. Thompson
Ph.D. Candidate
Earth and Planetary Sciences Department
University of Tennessee, Knoxville
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Current Research Project (Ph.D., advised by Dr. Linda C. Kah)
In my current project I am investigating changes in the extent of biospheric
oxygenation during the Cambro-Ordovician by constructing carbon, sulfur, and oxygen
isotopic curves for sections in the Argentine Precordillera and Western Newfoundland.
Temporal variations in S-isotopic composition will be used to model marine sulfate reservoir
size, which is indicative of the extent of biospheric oxygenation. Analyses of
carbonate-associated sulfate (CAS) will yield S-isotopic curves for Precordillera
and Newfoundland sections. U-Pb dating of bentonites sampled in the Middle Ordovician
Precordillera section will give high-resolution geochronologic data for estimating
sedimentation rates that will be needed to model sulfate reservoir mass.
M.S. Thesis (Dr. Theodore Labotka, University of Tennessee, Knoxville)
As a Master's project, I tested 1) a potential pressure calibration material, sodium
niobate (NaNbO3), for use in a hydrothermal diamond anvil cell (HDAC), and 2) the stability field of a hydrous
carbonate mineral, nesquehonite (MgCO3*3H2O). Sodium niobate undergoes several optically
observable structural transitions that occur within a temperature range that is
applicable to HDAC studies.
Other Research Interests
Planetary science and exploration
Atmospheric sciences
Publications
THESIS AND DISSERTATION
Mulcahy, C. K., High-temperature,
high-pressure study of the Mg-carbonate mineral, nesquehonite:
University of Tennessee, M.S. Thesis, December, 2006.
ABSTRACTS
Mulcahy,
C.K., Taylor, L.A.,
and Goodrich, C.A., 2004, A comparison of
textural and chemical features of spinel within lunar mare basalts: LPSC
XXXV, Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston, Abstract 1131.
Mulcahy, C.
K., Taylor, L. A., and
Goodrich, C. A., 2003, The
role of spinels in the petrogenesis of lunar mare basalts: GSA abstracts
wit Programs, v. 35, no. 6, p. 266.
Slater, V.P., Thompson, C. K., Nettles, J.,
Milam, K., Stockstill, K. R., Cahill, J., Anand, M., and Taylor, L. A., 2003,
An Evaluation
of the Igneous Crystallization Programs - MELTS, MAGPOX, and COMAGMAT Part II:
Importance of Magmatic fO2: LPSC XXXIV, Lunar and
Planetary Institute, Houston, Abstract 1896.
Thompson, C.K., Slater, V.
P., Stockstill, K. R., Anand, M., Nettles, J., Milam, K., Cahill, J., and
Taylor, L. A., 2003, An Evaluation of
the Igneous Crystallization Programs - MELTS, MAGPOX, and COMAGMAT Part I: Does One Size Fit All?: LPSC XXXIV, Lunar
and Planetary Institute, Houston, Abstract 1881.
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