Chi Ma is a mineralogist and director of the Analytical Facility in the Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences at the California Institute of Technology, and is known for his discovery and characterization of new mineral phases in meteorites.
Education Ma received a Bachelor of Science degree in Petrology and Mineralogy from China University of Geosciences (Wuhan) in 1989 where he studied the metamorphism and petrology of the Hongan Group rocks in central China.Ma C., Sang L,K., Kang J.X. (1993) The metamorphic petrology of the Hong'an group rocks in Dawu area, central China. IGCP 294 International Symposium: Very Low Grade Metamorphism, Xi'an.
He then moved to New Zealand where he graduated with a Master of Science Degree with Distinction in Geology from the University of Auckland, and presented a thesis on the Alteration of the Huka Falls Formation in the Te Mihi area of the Wairakei geothermal system, supervised by Profesor Patrick Browne.C Ma, PRL Browne, CC Harvey (1992) Crystallinity of subsurface clay minerals in the Te Mihi Sector of the Wairakei geothermal system, New Zealand. Proc. 14th New Zealand Geothermal Workshop, 267-272Ma Chi, PRL Browne (1991) ALTERATION MINERALOGY OF SEDIMENTS IN THE HUKA FALLS FORMATION OF THE Te Mihi Area, Wairakei. Proceedings of the 13th New Zealand Geothermal Workshop, 185-191
He received his Ph.D. in Mineralogy from the Australian National University under Professor Richard A (Tony) Eggleton with a thesis topic involving the ultra-structure of kaolin using high resolution electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction experiments.C Ma, RA Eggleton (2000) High-Resolution TEM Investigation of Halloysite. Microscopy and Microanalysis 6 (S2), 416-417C Ma, RA Eggleton (1999) Surface layer types of kaolinite: a high-resolution transmission electron microscope study. Clays and Clay Minerals 47 (2), 181-191C Ma, RA Eggleton (1999) Cation exchange capacity of kaolinite. Clays and Clay minerals 47 (2), 174-180C Ma, JD FitzGerald, RA Eggleton, DJ Llewellyn (1998) Analytical electron microscopy in clays and other phyllosilicates: Loss of elements from a 90-nm stationary beam of 300-keV electrons.
Next, he moved to the United States where he was a postdoc with Mineralogy Professor George R. Rossman at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California. As a postdoc at Caltech was initially involved with the characterization of colorful minerals such as rose quartz and rainbow obsidian.C Ma, JS Goreva, GR Rossman (2002) Fibrous nanoinclusions in massive rose quartz: HRTEM and AEM investigations. American Mineralogist 87, 269-276.JS Goreva, C Ma, GR Rossman (2001) Fibrous nanoinclusions in massive rose quartz: The origin of rose coloration. American Mineralogist 86, 466-472.
Career
Partway through his first year as a postdoc, he was hired to take over the electron microbeam analytical facility in the Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences at Caltech.https://web.gps.caltech.edu/facilities/analytical/
Research
After assuming the directorship of the analytical facilities, he turned to the analysis of small mineral components of meteorites that brought new minerals from the primordial condensation of the Solar System. Many of these new minerals were phases that seldom or never survived the current weathering conditions on Earth. He worked on the Allende and Khatyrka Meteorites and on a variety of Martian meteorites such as the Tissint meteorite. These include new minerals such as tistarite, Ti2O3,C Ma, GR Rossman (2009) Tistarite, Ti2O3, a new refractory mineral from the Allende meteorite. American Mineralogist 94 (5-6), 841-844. ahrensite, γ-Fe2SiO4,Chi Ma, Oliver Tschauner, John R Beckett, Yang Liu, George R Rossman, Stanislav V Sinogeikin, Jesse S Smith, Lawrence A Taylor (2016) Ahrensite, γ-Fe2SiO4, a new shock-metamorphic mineral from the Tissint meteorite: Implications for the Tissint shock event on Mars. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 184, 240-256 tissintite,(Ca,Na,□)AlSi2O6,Chi Ma, Oliver Tschauner, John R Beckett, Yang Liu, George R Rossman, Kirill Zhuravlev, Vitali Prakapenka, Przemyslaw Dera, Lawrence A Taylor (2015) Tissintite,(Ca,Na,□)AlSi2O6, a highly-defective, shock-induced, high-pressure clinopyroxene in the Tissint martian meteorite. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 422, 194-205 krotite, CaAl2O4,C Ma, AR Kampf, HC Connolly Jr, JR Beckett, GR Rossman, SAS Smith (2011) krotite, CaAl2O4, a new refractory mineral from the NWA 1934 meteorite. American Mineralogist 96, 709-715 grossmanite, CaTi3+AlSiO6C Ma, GR Rossman (2009) Grossmanite, CaTi3+AlSiO6, a new pyroxene from the Allende meteorite. American Mineralogist 94, 1491-1494. and allendeite, Sc4Zr3O12.C Ma, JR Beckett, GR Rossman (2014) Allendeite (Sc4Zr3O12) and hexamolybdenum (Mo,Ru,Fe), two new minerals from an ultrarefractory inclusion from the Allende meteorite. American Mineralogist 99 (4), 654-666.
He has discovered or co-discovered and characterized 58 new minerals mostly from meteorites and has collaborated with other researchers helping to characterize a total of 125 new minerals.https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=yfU2Ck4AAAAJ&hl=en
Honors 2016 - A new refractory mineral from the solar nebula, Machiite (Al2Ti3O9), was named after him.Krot, A.N., Nagashima, K., Rossman, G.R. (2020) Machiite, Al2Ti3O9, a new oxide mineral from the Murchison carbonaceous chondrite: A new ultra-refractory phase from the solar nebula. American Mineralogist, 105(2), 239-243.
2017 - He was elected a Fellow of the Mineralogical Society of America.
2024 - He was elected a Fellow of the Meteoritical Society.
References