Prof. Christine Floss
Christine Floss obtained her Ph.D. in Geochemistry from Washington University (Dept. of Earth and Planetary Sciences) in 1991. Her thesis work focused on understanding the petrogenesis of lunar ferroan anorthosites and an unusual group of enstatite meteorites known as aubrites, through investigation of their trace element microdistributions. She then spent five years working as a research scientist at the Max-Planck-Institut f. Kernphysik in Heidelberg, under the direction of Prof. A. El Goresy, where her research involved experimental and isotopic investigations of kinetic evaporation effects to understand the processes involved in the formation of refractory inclusions and their implications for early solar system evolution. Since 2006 she is Associate Research Professor of Physics. She is a member of the American Geophysical Union, the Geochemical Society, the Meteoritical Society, Sigma Xi and the Deutsche Mineralogische Gesellschaft. She is also an associate editor for Meteoritics and Planetary Science.
Research Interests Dr. Floss' research interests focus on using the diversity of extraterrestrial material available for laboratory study (meteorites, cosmic dust) to better understand the origin and evolution of the early solar nebula. Specific areas of current research include:   experimental and isotopic studies of interplanetary dust particle and primitive chondritic meteorites to understand the distribution and origin of isotopic anomalies observed in these materials   identification of circumstellar silicate and oxide grains to understand the conditions of formation in their stellar sources as well as their survival in solar system materials   studies of trace element distributions in individual minerals of meteorites, lunar samples and terrestrial rocks, to understand their petrogenesis, as well as secondary effects occurring on their parent bodies (thermal metamorphism, aqueous alteration, etc.   Some recent papers: Floss C., Taylor L. A., Promprated P. and Rumble D., III (2005) Northwest Africa 011: a "eucritic" basalt from a non-eucrite parent body. Meteoritics and Planetary Science 40, 343-359. Bradley J., Dai Z. R., Erni R., Browning N., Graham G., Weber P., Smith J., Hutcheon I., Ishii H., Bajt S., Floss C., Stadermann F., and Sandford S. (2005) An astronomical 2175Å feature in interplanetary dust particles. Science 307, 244-247. Floss C., Stadermann F. J., Bradley J., Dai Z., Bajt S. and Graham G. (2004) Carbon and nitrogen isotopic anomalies in an anhydrous interplanetary dust particle. Science 303, 1355-1358. Promprated P., Taylor L. A., Anand M., Floss C., Sobolev N. V. and Pokhilenko N. P. (2004) Multiple diamond inclusions from the Snap Lake/King Lake kimberlite dike, Slave craton, Canada: a trace element perspective. Lithos 77, 69-81. Cahill J. T., Floss C., Anand M., Taylor L. A., Nazarov M. A. and Cohen B. A. (2004) Petrogenesis of lunar highlands meteorites: Dhofar 025, Dhofar 081, Dar al Gani 262, and Dar al Gani 400. Meteoritics and Planetary Science 39, 503-529. Floss C., Crozaz G., McKay G., Mikouchi T. and Killgore M. (2003) Petrogenesis of angrites. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 67, 4775-4789. Floss C., Fogel R. A., Lin Y. and Kimura M. (2003) Diopside-bearing EL6 EET90102: insights from rare earth element distributions. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 67, 543-555. Floss C. (2002) Queen Alexandra Range 93148: a new type of pyroxene pallasite? Meteoritics and Planetary Science 37, 1129-1139. A complete list of publications can be found at: Publications
Contact	Christine Floss Laboratory for Space Sciences Physics Department, CB 1105 Washington University 1 Brookings Drive St. Louis, MO 63130-4899, USA	Phone: (314) 935-6206 Fax: (314) 935-4083 Email: floss@wuphys.wustl.edu Home Page: http://aaa.wustl.edu
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