Development of Isotope and Chemical Ratio Measurements by FTMS

该奖项提供两年的支持，以继续开发旨在采用傅立叶变换质谱学(FTMS)技术对自然地质样品进行同位素分析的开发工作。FTMS可能是一种快速和相对便宜的同位素微量分析方法，但对地质上感兴趣的元素的分析(例如，使用铀-铅放射性衰变系统测定岩石的年龄)带来了关于不必要的同位素分馏效应的问题，必须先解决这些问题，然后才能将FTMS用于有利可图的地球化学研究。

This award provides two years of support to continue developmental work aimed at adapting the technique of Fourier Transform Mass Spectrometry (FTMS) for the isotopic analysis of natural geological samples. FTMS is potentially a fast and relatively inexpensive method of isotopic microanalysis, but the analysis of geologically interesting elements (for example, dating the age of rocks using uranium-lead radioactive decay systematics) raises problems regarding unwanted isotopic fractionation effects that must be resolved before FTMS can be used profitably in geochemical research.