Acquisition of a New Automatic X-ray Powder Diffractometer

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9804769 Giere This grant provides partial support for the costs of acquiring a new computer-controlled X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectrometer for the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Purdue University. Support for this grant is shared between the Earth Sciences Instrumentation and Facilities Program (EAR/IF) and Purdue University (50%). The new XRD will replace an old and obsolete XRD and will be installed in the fully climate- controlled X-ray laboratory in the Civil Engineering Building at Purdue University. Several faculty members and their research groups will be using the new equipment in studies on a wide range of topics: Dr. R. Giere for mineralogical and petrologic investigations of various metamorphic rocks, characterization of crystalline waste forms for municipal and high-level nuclear waste, and for research projects in experimental petrology; Dr. S.J. Fritz for determination of clay minerals and other phases in soils and weathering horizons, and for examination of precipitates produced during leaching of coal piles; Dr. K.D. Ridgway for characterization of shales, volcanic ashes and tuffs, and other fine-grained rocks in sedimentary basins; Dr. R.O. Sack for identification and characterization of starting materials and run products consumed or produced during petrologic experiments; and Dr. J.M. Harbor for provenance studies of fine- grained glacial deposits, and in environmental studies, for mineralogical identification of non-point source pollutants. The new X-ray diffractometer will also be utilized for teaching purposes. The Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences provides a research-intensive learning environment, where undergraduate students are required to learn various types of analytical methods, including X-ray diffraction, during their course work. ***