Acquisition and Upgrade of an Inductively Coupled Plasma Emission (ICP-ES) Laboratory of Geological, Oceanographic, and Environmental Chemical Research

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9724282 Murray This grant, made through the Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) Program, provides $100,000 as partial support of the costs of acquiring an inductively coupled plasma emission spectrometer (ICP-ES) for rapid analyses of major and trace element concentrations in a variety of sample matrices including natural waters, sediments, rocks and biological tissues. Specific studies that will take advantage of the analytic capabilities of this new instrument include utilize major element and trace element analyses of seawater and sediment samples to make inferences about past conditions in the oceans (i.e. primary productivity, preservation of biogenic minerals, eolian particle flux to the seafloor etc.), studies of the geochemistry of volcanic ashes recovered in Antarctica for use in provenance, chronologic correlation and tectonic history studies of the Transantarctic Mountains, petrologic studies of batholith granites in the Sierra Nevada extensional region to elucidate possible mantle involvement in their formation, studies of the major and trace element compositions of high strain schists and gneisses to understand diffusional mass transfer during metamorphism and ecotoxologic studies of heavy metals in freshwater alga tissues and their possible effects on photosynthesis. This instrument will complement the analytical capabilities of several ICP-MS instruments recently acquired at several institutions within this region (i.e. Harvard, MIT, WHOI, URI and Brown), thus making the BU ICP-ES a truly regional facility for major and trace element geochemistry. ***