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

稀有气体已被用来提供重要的约束范围广泛的问题，包括地幔脱气的年代学，地壳块体的剥露速率，沉积盆地的热历史，和行星大气的起源。这笔赠款为哈佛地球和行星科学系的一个全自动、最先进的惰性气体实验室提供部分支持。该实验室将能够测量从He到He的所有惰性气体，并将解决各种需要高生产率，高精度和超低空白的科学应用。具体的研究项目，将利用实验室的独特分析能力，包括地幔的地球化学演化，表面暴露测年，低温热计时，并测量地球外的3He，以评估沉积物中的时间分布。

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.