Interplanetary dust particles

Interplanetary dust particles (IDPs), a few to a few hundred microns in size, are derived from collisions in the asteroid belt and Kuiper belt and from active comets. My research focuses on tracing the flux of IDPs over geologic time using helium-3, the rare isotope of helium. Why does one care about how the dust flux varies over geologic time? The terrestrial accretion rate of IDP flux is modulated by collisions in the asteroid and Kuiper belt and by comet showers. Although there are theoretical models, little observational evidence exists for such events. The geologic record of IDP flux can therefore provide information about major events occurring in the solar system and the dynamics and recurrence interval of asteroid collisions and comet showers.

Furthermore the flux of IDPs may also be utilized as a chronometer  to study geologic events occurring on timescales of few thousand to even few decades!  Such high resolution is not provided by any other geochronometers. This makes the IDP technique specially valuable for studying climate changes, biological events such as faunal recovery time following mass-extinctions and other catastrophic events occurring over Earth history.

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