Upgrade of a Stable Isotope Mass Spectrometer by the Addition of an Automated Carbonate Preparation Device

9905887Dettman这笔赠款为购买自动碳酸盐制备装置提供部分支持，该装置将安装在亚利桑那大学的气体比质谱仪上。该仪器将为亚利桑那大学的一大批研究人员自动进行小碳酸盐样品的稳定同位素分析。该仪器在地球科学部的主要用户将是大卫·德特曼、安德鲁·科恩、杰伊·夸德和卡尔·弗莱萨。预计树轮实验室、可再生自然资源部和生态与进化生物学系的研究人员将利用这一设施。它还将提供给其他机构的教职员工；计划中的合作工作包括来自亚利桑那州立大学、加州科学院和弗吉尼亚理工大学的研究人员。古气候研究和古生态学是该仪器将应用于的工作的主要重点。自动碳酸盐制备装置针对处理大量非常小的样品(大约10微克CaCO3)进行了优化。这些能力是本部门目前正在进行的多个研究领域所需要的。一个例子是利用贝壳中微量取样生长带的同位素组成的季节性变化来推断水文和气候的变化。类似的研究正在进行中，利用介形类动物的整个贝壳，一种微型甲壳动物。除了使用这些方法进行古气候研究外，目前在土壤地球化学、古矿层学、落基山脉和喜马拉雅山脉的隆起史、冰川学和经济地质学方面的研究都将利用这一仪器。它将极大地提高所有利用碳酸盐同位素地球化学的研究人员的产量和效率，因为它消除了手动制备碳酸盐样品所涉及的劳动，或者通过消除将样品送到其他实验室进行处理的长时间。碳酸盐装置将与目前未得到充分利用的质谱计相连，极大地提高这一宝贵分析仪器的生产率。***

9905887DettmanThis grant provides partials support for the acquistion of an automated carbonate preparation unit to be attached to a gas ratio mass spectrometer at the University of Arizona. This instrument will automate the stable isotope analysis of small carbonate samples for a large group of researchers at the University of Arizona. The primary users of this instrument within the Geosciences Department will be David Dettman, Andrew Cohen, Jay Quade and Karl Flessa. It is expected that researchers from the Tree Ring Laboratory, the Renewable Natural Resources Department, and the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department will make use of this facility. It will also be made available to faculty at other institutions; planned cooperative work includes researchers from Arizona State University, the California Academy of Sciences, and Virginia Tech.Paleoclimate studies and paleo-ecology are the primary focus of the work to which this instrument will be applied. The automated carbonate preparation unit is optimized for the processing of large numbers of very small samples (on the order of 10 micrograms of CaCO3). These capabilities are needed for a number of lines of research currently underway in this department. An example is the use of seasonal changes in the isotopic composition of micro-sampled growth bands in shells to infer changes in hydrology and climate. Similar studies are underway utilizing whole shells of ostracodes, a micro-crustacean. In addition to paleoclimate studies using these methods, current research in soil geochemistry, paleolimnology, uplift histories of the Rockies and the Himalaya, glaciology, and economic geology will make use of this instrument. It will greatly improve the output and efficiency of all researchers making use of carbonate isotope geochemistry by eliminating the labor involved in manually preparing carbonate samples or by eliminating long turn-around times when samples are sent to other labs for processing. The carbonate unit will be attached to a currently underutilized mass spectrometer, greatly increasing the productivity of this valuable analytical instrument. ***