MRI: Acquisition of an Alpha Spectrometry System for Research and Undergraduate Training in Geology and Environmental Science

0115704 Denniston通过主要研究仪器（MRI）计划提供的这笔赠款完全支持购买一组阿尔法光谱仪的费用，用于对洞穴和珊瑚进行铀系列（238 U-234 U-230 Th和226 Ra-210 Pb）同位素测年。 该设备将包括一台堪培拉Genie-2000台式α分析仪，配有双α谱仪、450平方毫米PIPS探测器、用于操作和数据处理的硬件和软件，以及一个氡分析系统，该系统由Storm King R-LPSS双氡提取系统和Applied Techniques型号AC/DC-DRC-MK 10 -2双氡计数系统组成。 获得这一仪器将使康奈尔大学能够在地球系统过程中进行两方面的研究，包括环境变化对大陆和浅海环境的影响：（1）建立美国中西部和尼泊尔中部全新世气候变化的洞穴沉积记录;（2）分析珊瑚礁死亡组合的时间分辨能力，作为评估珊瑚礁群落对全球气候变化反应的一种手段。 这两个研究领域将作为教师和教师指导的本科项目，将与稳定和放射性同位素质谱分析相结合，在爱荷华州和新墨西哥州大学。 学生使用这种阿尔法光谱系统获得的研究经验将提高定量和分析技能，扩大对独立研究的欣赏作为科学培训的工具，引入各种面向环境的研究课题，并发展周边技能，包括X射线衍射和光学显微镜方法，稳定同位素分析和热电离质谱法。

0115704DennistonThis grant, made through the Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) Program, provides full support of the costs of acquiring a bank of alpha spectrometers for uranium-series (238U-234U-230Th and 226Ra-210Pb) isotope dating of speleothems and corals. The equipment will include a Canberra Genie-2000 benchtop alpha analyst with dual alpha spectrometers, 450 mm2 PIPS detectors, hardware and software for operation and data reduction, as well as a radon analysis system composed of Storm King R-LPSS double Rn extraction system with an Applied Techniques model AC/DC-DRC-MK10-2 dual radon counting system. Acquisition of this instrument will enable two lines of research in earth systems processes at Cornell College, including the impacts of environmental change on continental and shallow marine environments: (1) construction of speleothem-based records of Holocene climate variability from the midwestern U.S.A. and central Nepal and (2) analysis of the temporal resolving power of reef coral death assemblages as a means of assessing the response of reef coral communities to global climate change. Both research areas will be addressed as faculty and faculty-guided undergraduate projects that will be combined with stable and radiogenenic isotope mass spectrometric analyses at the University of Iowa and the University of New Mexico. The research experiences students receive using this alpha spectrometry system will enhance quantitative and analytical skills, expand appreciation for independent research as a tool for scientific training, introduce a variety of environmentally-oriented research topics, and develop peripheral skills including X-ray diffraction and optical microscope methods, stable isotopic analysis, and thermal ionization mass spectrometry.***