Laurence E. Nyquist, Planetary Scientist
Chronology of the Moon, Mars, and Meteorite Parent Asteroids
NASA / KR
laurence.e.nyquist@nasa.gov
Wk: 281-483-5038
Ph.D. Physics, University of Minnesota, 1969
M.S. Physics, University of Minnesota, 1963
B.A. Physics, Mathematics, Macalester College, 1961
Dr. Nyquist's scientific career began with the study of noble gases in iron meteorites as a graduate student at the University of Minnesota and at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. He also studied noble gases in the Apollo 11 and 12 lunar samples as a post-doctoral associate at the University of Minnesota. Following employment at the Johnson Space Center in Houston in 1970, his work has dealt primarily with radiometric age dating and isotope geochemistry of returned lunar samples, lunar meteorites, Martian meteorites, and meteoritic basalts that are likely derived from Asteroid 4 Vesta. He has been a Principal Investigator in NASA's Cosmochemistry and Origins of Solar Systems Programs, and is currently a Principal Investigator in NASA's LASER (Lunar Advanced Science and Exploration Research) and MFRP (Mars Fundamental Research) Programs. He has served on several of NASA's peer-review panels and on the Facilities Subcommittee of the Lunar Sample Analysis Planning Team (LSAPT) and its successor, CAPTEM (Curation and Analysis Planning Team for Extra-Terrestrial Materials). He served on the Facilities Subcommittee of LSAPT during the design of the Lunar Curatorial Facility, and later chaired the Facilities Subcommittee of CAPTEM during modification of that facility for receipt of foils exposed to the solar wind during the Genesis Discovery mission. He served on both the Facilities Subcommittee and JSC's Operational Readiness Inspection teams for the current Remote Lunar Sample Storage Facility and the STARDUST laboratory at JSC. He also served as the NASA selection official for funding Genesis Analytical Facilities. He has served as an Associate Editor of Geochimica Cosmochimica Acta and of the Proceedings of the Lunar and Planetary Science Conferences, and as Volume Editor of those Proceedings. He also has participated in the application of stable isotope methods to biomedical research, once serving as a test subject for bone-Ca loss studies at JSC as well as leading an analytical team for the project.
Dr. Nyquist leads a team specializing in high precision Mg, Ca, Cr, Sr, Sm, and Nd isotopic analyses, radiometric age dating using both short- and long-lived nuclei, and measurement in primitive meteorites of variations in the isotopic abundances of several elements arising from different episodes of stellar nucleosynthesis.
Nyquist L. E., Bogard D. D., Shih C.-Y., Park J., Reese Y. D., and Irving A. J. (2009) Concordant Rb-Sr, Sm-Nd, and Ar-Ar Ages for Northwest Africa 1460: A 346 Ma old basaltic shergottite related to "lherzolitic" shergottites. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 73, 4288-4309.
Nyquist L. E., Kleine T., Shih C.-Y., Reese Y. D. (2009) The distribution of short-lived radioisotopes in the early solar system and the chronology of asteroid accretion, differentiation, and secondary mineralization. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 73, 5115-5136.
Nyquist L., Bogard D., Yamaguchi A., Shih C.-Y., Karouji Y., Ebihara M., Reese Y., Garrison D., and Takeda, H. (2006) Feldspathic clasts in Yamato 86032: Remnants of the lunar crust with implications for its formation and impact history. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta, 70, 5990-6015.
Nyquist L., Reese Y., Wiesmann H., Shih C.-Y., and Takeda, H. (2003) Fossil 26Al and 53Mn in the Asuka 881394 eucrite: evidence of the earliest crust on asteroid 4 Vesta. Earth and Planet. Sci. Lett. 214, 11-25.
Nyquist L. E., Bogard D. D., and Shih C.-Y. (2001) "Radiometric chronology of the Moon and Mars." The Century of Space Science, Chap. 55, pp. 1325-1376 Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Borg LE., Norman M., Nyquist L.E., Bogard D., Snyder G., Taylor L. and Lindstrom M. (1999) "Isotopic studies of ferroan anorthosite 62236: A young lunar crust rock from a light rare-earth-element-deplated source." Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta, 63, 2679-2691.
Harper C. L., Jr., Nyquist L. E., Bansal B., Wiesmann H., and Shih C.-Y. (1995) "Rapid accretion and early differentiation of Mars indicated by 142Nd/144Nd in SNC meteorites." Science 267, 213-217.
Nyquist L. E., Wiesmann H., Bansal B., Shih C.-Y., Keith J.E., and Harper C. L. (1995) "146Sm-142Nd formation interval for the lunar mantle." Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta, 59, 2817-2837.
Nyquist L. E., Wooden J., Bansal B., Wiesmann H., McKay G., and Bogard D. D. (1979) "Rb-Sr age of the Shergotty achondrite and implications for metamorphic resetting of isochron ages." Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta, 43, 1057-1074.