Using chemical analyses and high-precision isotope composition measurements of meteoritic and terrestrial samples, we investigate the provenance and genetic relationships of meteorites and their components, the timescales and processes of planetesimal accretion, as well as the formation history of planets and nature of their building materials. This includes:

• stellar sources that contributed matter to the Solar System
• processing and transport of material in the protoplanetary disk
• timing and conditions of CAI formation
• relationship and origin of chondrules and matrix
• accretion/differentiation ages of meteorite parent bodies
• formation processes and materials of planetesimals and planets
• dichotomy of carbonaceous (CC) and non-carbonaceous (NC) materials
• origin of Earth’s water and habitability
• past and present workings of silicate Earth

Isotope anomalies

The most powerful tools at our disposal are radiogenic and nucleosynthetic isotope anomalies. These are small mass-independent isotopic variations that result from radioactive decay and the heterogeneous distribution of presolar matter, respectively. Obtaining such data by high-precision MC-ICP-MS allows us, for example, to date events in the early Solar System and to constrain genetic links between meteoritic and planetary materials.

Oxygen isotopes

We use triple oxygen isotope data for the identification/classification of meteorites and for investigating processes in the solar nebula or on meteorite parent bodies. These analyses are performed using laser-assisted fluorination in combination with a Thermo Scientific 253 Plus IRMS (Ibarra Lab). Additionally, we employ different sample preparation techniques (such as EATG-leaching) in order to remove terrestrial contamination.

Laser fusion

This technique has great potential for the complete, contamination-free, and rapid digestion of acid-resistant phases (e.g., presolar grains, chromite/spinel, zircon, rutile). For this purpose we use an ESI MIR10² Heating and Fusion System with an infrared laser (Ibarra Lab) as well as customized ultra-high purity graphite crucibles. This allows us to fully melt small samples, which are then quenched into glass spherules that can readily be dissolved using conventional table-top methods.

Recent publications:

Razionale DP, Budde G (2024) CosmoPlot: A Nucleosynthetic Isotope Anomaly Database and Plotting Software. ⁵⁵th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, #2282. 🔗

Havel RM, Ibarra DE, Bartoschewitz R, Budde G (2024) Interrogating Leaching Procedures of Meteorites for Triple Oxygen Isotope Analyses. ⁵⁵th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, #2055. 🔗

Wölfer E, Budde G, Kleine T (2023) Age and genetic relationships among CB, CH and CR chondrites. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 361, 288-301. 🔗

Budde G, Tissot FLH, Kleine T, Marquez RT (2023) Spurious molybdenum isotope anomalies resulting from non-exponential mass fractionation. Geochemistry, 83, 126007. 🔗

Tissot FLH, Weiss BP, Grove TL, Budde G, Charlier BLA, Shuster DL (2023) The Rocky Messenger Consortium: Searching for Mercurian Meteorites. ⁸⁶th Annual Meeting of The Meteoritical Society, #6273. 🔗

Li H, Budde G, Amelin Y, Tissot FLH (2023) U Isotopic Composition of CAI Mineral Separates and Implications for Pb-Pb Dating. ⁸⁶th Annual Meeting of The Meteoritical Society, #6285. 🔗

Dunham ET, McKeegan KD, Burman A, Jorge-Chavez F, Herbst A, Jacobsen B, Tissot FLH, Budde G, Telus M. (2023) Updated Compilation of CC CAI Al-Mg Data. ⁸⁶th Annual Meeting of The Meteoritical Society, #6292. 🔗

Razionale D and Budde G (2023) Epsilon-value transformation interface. DOI: 10.26300/7xch-9043. Resources

Budde G, Marquez RT, Ivanova MA, Tissot FLH (2023) Molybdenum isotope systematics of calcium-aluminum-rich inclusions. ⁵⁴th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, #2203. 🔗

Archer GJ, Budde G, Worsham EA, Stracke A, Jackson M, Kleine T (2023) Origin of ¹⁸²W anomalies in ocean island basalts. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 24, e2022GC010688. 🔗

Budde G, Archer GJ, Tissot FLH, Tappe S, Kleine T (2022) Origin of the analytical ¹⁸³W effect and its implications for tungsten isotope analyses. Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry, 37, 2005-2021. 🔗