Technician Support for the Noble Gas Geochemistry Lab at Caltech

9707119法利这笔赠款提供149,996美元，作为一名技术人员三年的部分工资支持，以监督操作和维护，并为加州理工诺布尔气体地球化学实验室的新用户提供培训。该设施增加了一名熟练的技术人员，将使PI能够继续开发新的和令人兴奋的技术，利用稀有气体地球化学来阐明地球科学中的基本问题。到目前为止，PI取得的成就的具体例子包括，PI对磷灰石氦热年代学的发展。这项技术利用磷灰石中铀和钍系列核素衰变产生的已知4He扩散速率来限制冷却历史。此外，PI发现了地外氦到海底沉积物的通量与全球气候和动物群变化之间的相关性，这对于我们理解地球气候和地外因素之间的联系具有潜在的重要意义。***

9707119 Farley This grant provides $149,996 as three years partial salary support for a technician to oversee operation and maintenance and to provide training to new users of the Caltech Noble gas geochemistry laboratory. The addition of a skilled technician to this facility will allow the PI to continue development of novel and exciting techniques utilizing rare gas geochemistry to elucidate fundamental problems in the Earth sciences. Specific examples of the PI's accomplishments to date include, the PI's development of apatite helium thermochronology. This technique utilizes known diffusional rates of 4He from decay of uranium and thorium series nuclides in apatite to constrain cooling histories. Additionally, the PI's discovery of correlations between the flux of extraterrestrial helium to seafloor sediments and global climate and faunal changes are potentially significant for our understanding of the linkages between the Earth's climate and extraterrestrial factors. ***