About LMAC
Laboratory for Meteorite Analysis and Classification
An Institute for Meteorite Research Inc laboratory
LMAC is a nonprofit laboratory created to meet the rapidly growing needs of the meteorite community for an easy to access, professional analysis and classification service for suspected meteorites.
Our laboratory provides an easy to use online sample submission process for researchers, institutions, meteorite professionals, and finders of suspected meteorites.
Facilities: LMAC is equipped with an in-house sample prep lab with: Olympus BH Petrographic Optical Microscope, 25mm Mount Making Station, STX-202A Diamond Wire Saw, Fisher Scientific Isotemp Vacuum Autoclave, and Niton XLF X-ray Fluorescence Analyzer (XRF).
LMAC utilizes a JEOL JXA-8230 Electron Microprobe (EPMA) equipped with 5 WDS spectrometers, located at the University of Colorado Boulder's Electron Microprobe Laboratory.
For suspected iron meteorites LMAC has utilized the metal-free SWAMP facility's quadrupole Sector Field Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer (SF ICP MS) located at the University of Alberta. *LMAC is not currently accepting new samples suspected to be iron meteorites until further notice.
* Laboratory for Meteorite Analysis and Classification (LMAC) is a laboratory managed by the Colorado based nonprofit 501(C3) entity, Institute for Meteorite Research Inc.
____________________________________________
Dustin Dickens, LMAC Lab Manager
Dustin is the manager of LMAC and oversees the analysis and classification services for the Laboratory. This includes sample prep, microprobe based EDS and WDS geochemical and BSE based petrographic analysis for the characterization / classification of new and suspected meteorites. Dustin is responsible for the writeup and submission of new meteorites to the Nomenclature Committee for approval, and publication in the Meteoritical Bulletin. He has a particular interest in aubrites, planetary achondrites, and highly reduced sulfide-bearing ungrouped achondrites.
____________________________________________
OUR PARTNERS AT UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO BOULDER
Aaron S. Bell - Director of the CU Boulder Electron Microprobe Laboratory
Dr. Aaron S. Bell, CU Boulder
Dr. Aaron Bell is the manager of the EPMA laboratory and an assistant research professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He is an experimental petrologist with an interest in applying microanalytical techniques to the characterization of geological materials. Prior to arriving at CU Boulder, Aaron spent four years as Sr. Research Scientist in the Institute of Meteoritics – Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at the University of New Mexico. His research focuses on investigating the redox systematics of multi-valent elements (i.e., V, Cr, Fe, and S) in silicate liquids and their partitioning behavior in silicate liquid-mineral systems. This work combines synchrotron micro XANES (x-ray near edge absorption structure) spectroscopy at the Advanced Photon Source, electron microprobe analysis at CU, experimental petrology, and thermodynamic modeling. Aaron is currently the lead PI on two active research projects funded by NSF and NASA.