Denton S. Ebel

Dr. Ebel is a geologist specializing in meteorites: pieces of planets and "left-overs" from the formation of the solar system. The distant, metal resource-rich asteroid belt is his field area. He develops thermodynamic models describing the outcomes of condensation, evaporation, and crystallization processes. Dr. Ebel is a leader in combining electron beam image analysis of surface chemistry (2D) with x-ray CAT-scan 3-dimensional imaging of extraterrestrial samples that yield clues to the origin of the solar system. His group has analyzed data from the MESSENGER mission to Mercury, comet samples from the Stardust mission, and the geochemistry of samples from the Cretaceous/Paleogene boundary. Dr. Ebel is PI of the AMNH/CUNY Physical Sciences REU program, faculty of the AMNH Master of Arts in Teaching Earth Sci. Residency Program, and a science Co-PI on the OpenSpace(project.com) project.

Fields of Interest

Cosmochemistry of the early Solar System
Mineral solid solution thermodynamics
The K/Pg extinction and Chicxulub impact
Experimental petrology
History of science

Education

Ph.D.    Purdue University                        Geology, December, 1993
M.S.    Purdue University, W. Lafayette, IN      Geology, August 1988
B.A.    Harvard College, Cambridge, MA          Sociology, June 1982

Honors & Awards

2021    Mineralogical Society of America, Distinguished Public Service Award
2017    NASA Group Achievement Award, MESSENGER Project Team
2014    Elected Fellow, Mineralogical Society of America
2010    Elected Fellow, The Meteoritical Society
1992    Outstanding Graduate Student Award, Dept. of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Purdue
1988    David Ross Graduate Fellowship, Purdue University Research Foundation
1982    Dedicated and Faithful Service Award, Dudley House, Harvard College

Selected Publications
(2023) The Manhattan project: Isotope geochemistry and detrital zircon geochronology of schists in New York City. Jaret, S. J., N. D. Tailby, K. G. Hammond, E. T. Rasbury, K. Wooton, D. S. Ebel,. T. plank, E. Dipadova, V. Yuan, L. Spaeth, L. M. Smith, N. Jaffe, and R. Smith. Accepted, Bulletin of the Geological Society of America.
(2023) Dust dynamics in current sheets within protoplanetary disks I. Isothermal models including ambipolar diffusion and Ohmic resitivity. Lebreuilly, U., M-M. Mac Low, B. Commerçon, and D. S. Ebel. Accepted, Astronomy & Astrophysics.
(2021) Condensation calculations in planetary science and cosmochemistry. Ebel, D. S. In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Planetary Science. Online 5/26/2021. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190647926.013.201, arXiv:2306.12645 [astro-ph.EP]
(2021) Simultaneous determination of mass-dependent Mg isotopic variations and radiogenic 26Mg by laser ablation-Mc-ICP-MS and implications for the formation of chondrules. Deng, Z., M. Chaussidon, D. S. Ebel, J. Villeneuve, J. Moureau, and F. Moynier. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 299: 163-183.
(2019) Trace element partitioning between CAI-type melts and grossite, melilite, hibonite and olivine. Ustunisik, G., D. S. Ebel, D. Walker, R. L. Nielsen and M. Gemma. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 267: 124-146.
(2018) The elusive origin of Mercury. Ebel, D. S. and S. T. Stewart. In Mercury: The View after MESSENGER. Eds. S. C. Solomon, B. J. Anderson and L. R. Nittler. Cambridge U. Press. pp. 497-515. arXiv:1712.08234 [astro-ph.EP](2018) Vapor-melt exchange - Constraints on chondrule formation conditions and processes. Ebel, D. S., C. M. O’D. Alexander and G. Libourel. In Chondrules: Records of Protoplanetary Disk Processes. Eds. S. Russell, A. Krot and H. C. Connolly Jr. Cambridge U. Press. pp. 151-174.
(2015) The origin of chondrules: constraints from matrix composition and matrix-chondrule complementarity. Palme, H., D. C. Hezel, and D. S. Ebel. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 411: 11-19. DOI: 10.1016/j.epsl.2014.11.033, arXiv:2307.02017 [astro-ph.EP]
(2013) Mineral processing by short circuits in protoplanetary disks. McNally C.P., A. Hubbard, M-M. Mac Low, D.S. Ebel, and P. D'Alessio. Astrophysical J Letters 767: L2-7.  DOI:10.1088/2041-8205/767/1/L2, arXiv:1301.1698 [astro-ph.EP
(2012) Short-term survival of ammonites in New Jersey after the end-Cretaceous bolide impact. Landman, N. H., M. P. Garb, R. Rovelli, D. S. Ebel, and L. E. Edwards. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 57: 703-715. DOI: 10.4202/app.2011.0068
(2011) Equilibrium condensation from chondritic porous IDP enriched vapor: Implications for Mercury and enstatite chondrite origins.  Ebel, D. S., and C. M. O'D. Alexander. Planetary and Space Sciences 59: 1888-1894. doi:10.1016/j.pss.2011.07.017, arXiv:2307.15763 [astro-ph.EP]
(2007) Meteorite 3-dimensional synchrotron micro-tomography: Methods and applications. Ebel, D.S. and M.L. Rivers. Meteoritics and Planetary Science 42: 1627-1646. DOI: 10.1111/j.1945-5100.2007.tb00595.x
(2006) Thermochemistry of sulfide mineral solutions. Sack, R. O. and D. S. Ebel. In Sulfides, ed. D. Vaughan, Reviews in Mineralogy 60: 265-364. Mineralogical Society of America.
(2005) Spinel-bearing spherules condensed from the Chicxulub impact-vapor plume. Ebel, D.S. and L. Grossman. Geology 33: 293-296.
(2000) Condensation in dust-enriched systems. Ebel, D.S. and L. Grossman. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 64: 339-366. doi: 10.1016/S0016-7037(99)00284-7, arXiv:2307.00641  [astro-ph.EP]
(2000) Variations on solar condensation: Sources of interstellar dust nuclei. Ebel, D.S. J. Geophysical Res. (Space Physics) 105: 10363-10370, part of a special section on Interstellar Dust and the Heliosphere.
(2000) Gibbs energy minimization in gas + liquid + solid systems. Ebel, D.S, M.S. Ghiorso, R.O. Sack, and L. Grossman. J. Computational Chem. 21: 247-256.
(1997) Crystallization of sulfide liquids and the interpretation of ore composition. Ebel, D.S. and A.J. Naldrett. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 34: 352-365.
(1996) Fractional crystallization of sulfide ore liquids at high temperatures. Ebel, D.S. and A.J. Naldrett. Economic Geology 91: 607-621.
(1989) Ag-Cu and As-Sb exchange energies in tetrahedrite-tennantite fahlores. Ebel, D.S. and R.O. Sack. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 53: 2301-2309.