Acquisition of Core Logging Equipment for the Antarctic Marine Geology Research Facility

*9871166该奖项由美国国家科学基金会极地计划办公室和科学与技术基础设施办公室提供，支持为佛罗里达州立大学南极海洋地质研究设施采购设备。AMGRF由美国自然基金会支持，作为美国南极计划(USAP)的海洋沉积物岩芯储存库，是世界上最大的南大洋活塞岩心储存库。30多年来，AMGRF一直从事海洋地质研究和接收、描述和归档岩芯。AMGRF的持有量包括20,000多米的岩心沉积物(超过6500个岩心)。该设施还存档了超过2000米的旋转岩芯材料，这些材料来自干谷钻井项目、罗斯海新生代调查项目和目前的罗伯茨角项目。这种独特的沉积物收集在今天特别有价值，因为它为基本上无法进入的南极大陆保存了新生代古环境记录。在过去的十年里，科学的注意力越来越集中在南极洲在全球新生代气候演变中的作用，特别是它与全球变暖的研究有关。AMGRF为南极和地球科学界提供三项主要职能：(1)服务--核心描述、采样和对首席调查人员的技术支持。(2)研究--供内部和访问调查人员使用的设备和空间。(3)教育--为调查人员举办讲习班和短期课程，为研究生和本科生提供培训，并为所有年龄段的学生和普通公众举办讲座和参观活动。AMGRF活动的一个主要产品是USAP回收的深海岩心的详细岩心描述。这些描述以AMGRF报告的形式发布，世界各地的研究人员使用这些描述来评估特定核心对其研究计划的效用。此外，AMGRF还为USAP内部和外部首席调查员及其研究团队提供必要的研究设备和技术支持，他们来到该设施，详细研究和采样他们在USAP船只上获得的岩芯。购买多传感器岩心测井系统和具有成像能力的现代研究级光学显微镜将使AMGRF能够显著改进岩心描述的基础工作，并在岩心分析和整理方面跟上现代方法的步伐。该设备将为使用该设备的南极和地球科学研究人员提供必要的工具，以快速和客观地分析每年送往AMGRF的新活塞和浅层钻芯。它将提供几种非破坏性的分析模式，以消除出于岩心表征目的而进行的过度采样。此外，研究人员将能够以以前不可能的分辨率重新分析该设施中已存储的数千个核心中的许多。这种设备将满足FSU调查人员以及美国和其他国家更广泛社区在未来许多年的需求。这些设备还将使佛罗里达州立大学和其他机构的学生受益，这些学生需要接触最先进的设备并接受培训，以进行现代海洋地质学研究。它将提供一个技术基础设施，以补充和配得上该设施所存档的独特的核心收藏。该设备将极大地提高收集的价值，并为购买和维护沉积物岩芯的30年投资提供更高的科学回报。***

*** 9871166 This award, provided by the Office of Polar Programs and the Office of Science and Technology Infrastructure at NSF, supports acquisition of equipment for the Antarctic Marine Geology Research Facility (AMGRF) at Florida State University (FSU). AMGRF is supported by NSF as the marine sediment core repository for the US Antarctic Program (USAP) and is the largest repository of Southern Ocean piston cores in the world. AMGRF has been conducting marine geological research and receiving, describing, and archiving cores for over 30 years. AMGRF holdings include more than 20,000 m of cored sediment (over 6500 cores). The Facility also archives more than 2000 m of rotary-cored material from programs such as the Dry Valley Drilling Project, Cenozoic Investigations of the Ross Sea, and the current Cape Roberts Project. This unique collection of sediments is especially valuable today because of the Cenozoic paleoenvironmental record it preserves for the largely inaccessible Antarctic continent. During the past decade scientific attention has focused increasingly on the role of Antarctica in the evolution of global Cenozoic climate, and especially as it pertains to research about global warming. AMGRF provides three primary functions for the Antarctic and Earth Science community: (1) Service - Core descriptions, sampling, and technical support to Principal Investigators. (2) Research - Equipment and space for in-house and visiting investigators. (3) Education - Workshops and short courses for investigators, training for graduate and undergraduate students, and lectures and tours for students of all ages as well as the general public. A primary product of AMGRF activities are detailed core descriptions of deep-sea cores recovered by the USAP. These descriptions, published as AMGRF reports, are used by investigators around the world to evaluate the utility of specific cores for their research programs. In addition, AMGRF provides necessary research equipment and technical support for in-house and external USAP Principal Investigators and their research teams who come to the Facility to study and sample in detail the cores they have acquired on USAP vessels. Acquisition of a multi-sensor core logging system and a modern research-grade light microscope with imaging capabilities will allow AMGRF to significantly improve basic work on core descriptions and to keep pace with modern methods in core analysis and curation. This equipment will give Antarctic and Earth Science researchers who use the Facility the necessary tools to rapidly and objectively analyze the new piston and shallow drill cores that are sent to the AMGRF each year. It will provide several non-destructive modes of analysis that will eliminate excessive sampling for purposes of core characterization. In addition, researchers will be able to re-analyze many of the thousands of cores already stored at the Facility at a resolution not previously possible. This equipment will serve the needs of both FSU investigators and those of the wider community in the US and other countries for many years to come. The equipment will also benefit students from FSU and from other institutions who need exposure to, and training in state-of-the art equipment for conducting modern research in marine geology. It will provide a technical infrastructure that is complementary to and worthy of the unique collection of cores archived at the Facility. The equipment will greatly enhance the value of the collections and provide a higher scientific return on the 30-year investment that has gone into the acquisition and maintenance of the sediment cores. ***