Acquisition of a Mass Spectrometry System for Noble Gas Geochemistry at Harvard

稀有气体已被用来对一系列广泛的问题提供重要的约束，包括地幔脱气的年代学、地壳块体的挖掘速率、沉积盆地的热史和行星大气的起源。这笔拨款为哈佛大学地球与行星科学系的一个全自动、最先进的惰性气体实验室提供了部分支持。该实验室将能够测量从He到Xe的所有惰性气体，并将解决各种需要高生产率、高精度和超低毛坯的科学应用。具体的研究项目将利用实验室独特的分析能力，包括地幔的地球化学演化、地表暴露年代测定、低温热时测定法，以及评估沉积物中时间分布的外星3He测量。

EAR-0236594MukhopadhyayThe noble gases have been used to provide important constraints on a wide range of problems including the chronology of mantle degassing, exhumation rates of crustal blocks, the thermal history of sedimentary basins, and the origin of planetary atmospheres. This grant provides partial support for a fully automated, state of the art noble gas laboratory in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard. The laboratory will be capable of measuring all the noble gases, from He to Xe, and will tackle a variety of scientific applications that require high productivity, high precision, and ultra low blanks. Specific research projects that will utilize the unique analytical capabilities of the laboratory include geochemical evolution of the mantle, surface-exposure dating, low temperature thermochronometry, and measurements of extraterrestrial 3He to assess the distribution of time in sediments.