Shawn Wright
STEM Postdoctoral Researcher
Department of Physics
shawn.wright@ucf.edu
Research Groups
Biography
Research
Publications
- Impact cratering in the inner solar system.
- Fieldwork at several terrestrial impact sites such as Lonar crater in Deccan basalt, Santa Fe in north-central New Mexico; and the Campo del Cielo crater field in Argentina.
- Geologic history and composition of the surface of Mars through remote sensing/spectroscopy, lander/rover measurements, sample analysis, morphology, and terrestrial analogs, with a focus on volcanism vs. impact cratering.
- Comparison of shergottite data to remote data for insight into bias of Martian meteorite spallation/delivery, including shock pressure.
- Aqueous alteration of Deccan basalt, including several types of basaltic impact glasses from Lonar crater.
- Unusual, rare protoliths shock metamorphosed to become interesting impactites from a mafic target such as Lonar crater, including shocked soil, baked zones, and secondary silica shocked to coesite.
- Spectroscopy of terrestrial impactites for remote/rover applications or sample insight, and comparison to volcanic glasses.
- The agreement or lack thereof of models, experiments, and observations (field data) of the impact process.
- Field Team Lead for TREX Theme 4, with field guides written for the Santa Fe impact structure and using Palouse loess on CRB as an analog for Martian dust, lunar regolith, and the matrices of impact crater ejecta lobe breccias.
| Authors | Title | Published Date | Journal |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wright, Shawn P.; Michalski, Joseph R. | Shocked Soil—A Rare Terrestrial Impactite | Apr 2026 | Journal of Geophysical Research (Planets) 131, e2023JE007913 |
| Wright, Shawn P.; Michalski, Joseph | Shocked soil – a rare terrestrial impactite | Jul 2023 | ESS Open Archive eprints 283, 169008312.28377561 |