Upgrading of the X-Ray Diffraction and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometer (FTIR) Facilities for Mineralogical Research

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9911501SchroederThis grant provides partial support for the costs of upgrading the X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FTIR) facilities for mineralogical research in the Geology Department at the University of Georgia (UGA). Equal matching funds have been provided by the University of Georgia Research Foundation. The PI, Dr. Paul A. Schroeder will oversee the installation of new data acquisition hardware, X-ray tube and software upgrades for the XRD system. He will also oversee the installation of a new FTIR bench, detector and data analysis system. Unique to the FTIR will be the ability to conduct mineral studies in the far-IR region. These upgrades at UGA will allow continued analytical support to a robust geological research and teaching program. Approximately 50 geology students per year receive practical training and/or theoretical familiarization with these analytical methods. XRD and FTIR labs are generally considered cost-effective analytical facilities and are commonly used by geological industries. For this reason, students who receive training are placed at a competitive advantage in the job market.Examples of research programs at UGA that will benefit include: (1) Dr. Paul A. Schroeder's program on carbon sequestration in soil/saprolite minerals and its application to estimating long-term rates of silicate weathering and soil respiration, (2) Dr. Sandra J. Wyld's program on the Cretaceous-age crustal discontinuity in the Black Rock Desert region of northwest Nevada and the kinematic link between the Mojave-Snow Lake fault and the Salmon River-Idaho suture, and her program for unraveling spatial patterns of deformation, regional metamorphism and exhumation within a Mesozoic fold-thrust belt, central Nevada, (3) Dr. Alberto Patino Douce's program on ultra-high pressure metamorphism, (4) Dr. Valentine A. Nzengung program on the preparation of organoclays and determination of their sorption effectiveness, and (5) Drs. Schroeder and Patino Douce's idea to study the far-IR vibration modes of sheet silicates. Data generated by the XRD and FTIR facilities over the past 10 years have helped produce 85 publications (books, articles plus theses) by UGA faculty and students.***