2013 Nier Prize for Audrey Bouvier

Abstract

Dr. Audrey Bouvier It is my pleasure to introduce Dr. Audrey Bouvier, who has made significant contributions through her isotopic investigations of planetary materials, particularly the lead-lead systematics of the solar system's earliest solids as well as a variety of undifferentiated and differentiated meteorites. Audrey received her Bachelor's (2001) and Master's (2002) degrees in Earth Sciences from the Laboratoire Magmas et Volcans at Université Blaise Pascal in Clermont-Ferrand, followed by a PhD (2005) from Département des Sciences de la Terre at Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon. In Lyon, she was coadvised by Francis Albarède and Janne Blichert-Toft, and her dissertation work there focused on the Pb-Pb chronology of chondrites and the SNC (Martian) meteorites. The work on chondrites has provided important constraints on the accretionary and cooling histories of their parent bodies. While the interpretation and implications of her work on the Martian meteorites (discussed in a series of articles published between 2005 and 2009) have been hotly debated, it is clear that the data are of high quality and have stimulated dialog and further research into the differentiation history of Mars by other research groups. In addition to the Pb-Pb investigations, Audrey also determined the first ever Lu-Hf internal isochron for a Martian meteorite (Zagami), which yielded an age consistent with the internal isochron ages for this sample based on other radiochronometers. Following her PhD, Audrey worked as a Postdoctoral Research Associate (2005–2007) in the Department of Geosciences at the University of Arizona. There she began studies in collaboration with Jonathan Patchett and Jeff Vervoort that helped to define the Lu-Hf and Sm-Nd compositions of the chondritic uniform reservoir (CHUR), which have significant implications for the bulk composition and evolution of crustal and mantle reservoirs on Earth. The paper reporting this work has been the most cited one in Earth and Planetary Science Letters since its publication in 2008 in that journal. Audrey subsequently joined my research group in the Center for Meteorite Studies at Arizona State University as a Postdoctoral Research Associate for 3 years (2007–2010), and then as a Faculty Research Associate for another year. At ASU, Audrey investigated the high-resolution chronology of chondritic components and differentiated meteorites using the Pb-Pb and Al-Mg chronometers. This work has important implications for the age of the solar system, as well as the initial distribution of 26Al and the timing of accretion and differentiation of planetesimals in the early solar system. One of the publications resulting from her study of the Pb-Pb and Al-Mg systematics of a refractory inclusion from the Northwest Africa 2364 CV3 chondrite was highlighted this past January by the editors of Nature Geoscience as one of their ten favorite papers chosen across disciplines in the web focus celebrating the 5th anniversary of that journal. In October 2011, Audrey left ASU to begin an appointment as Research Associate in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Minnesota. It is for her substantial body of work focusing on the high-resolution chronology and evolution of the solar system and planetary bodies, and including such topics as the age of the earliest solar system solids to the differentiation history of Mars, that Audrey is deserving of the Nier Prize. The quality and productivity of her work have also been recognized by other successes in recent years. She was awarded grants from the NSF Geochemistry and Petrology program and the NASA Lunar Advanced Science and Exploration Research program. Finally, she was offered a position as Assistant Professor of Geochemistry in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Western Ontario and began her appointment there in July of this year. I have no doubt that she has a bright future ahead of her at UWO! Audrey has published numerous papers in the area of high-precision chronology and evolutionary history of the solar system that have had a tremendous impact in the field of meteoritics and cosmochemistry. On a more personal note, it has been a great pleasure to work with her over the years and to see her evolve and succeed in her personal and professional life. She is highly deserving of the Nier Prize of the Meteoritical Society for this body of work; I am very pleased to be able to present her as the recipient of this year's award.