Upgrading of the 40AR/39AR laser dating system at the University of Alaska Fairbanks

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0237360LayerThis grant provides proposal partial support for the upgrade of an existing 40Ar/39Ar laser dating laboratory at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF). The upgrade will significantly improve signal stability and dating precision, minimize downtime due to equipment failure, extend the useful life of the spectrometer, and allow for dating of larger samples or those experiments requiring precise temperature control. The laboratory has been operating as a 40Ar/39Ar facility since 1990, and the laser system has been in operation since 1994. Specifically, funds will be used to replace the electronics in the VG3600 mass spectrometer, purchase a UPS for power stability, install an existing resistance-heating furnace, upgrade vacuum components, and improve data processing and archiving capabilities.UAF will provide 33% of the direct equipment purchase. In addition the Geophysical Institute of the University of Alaska supports the annual operation of the laboratory (budget is approximately $100,000/yr) with some of the support coming from external grants and contracts. This funding supports a full-time laboratory technician, undergraduate student assistants, 3 months of PI time and many of the day-to-day operating and maintenance expenses of the laboratory. The Geochronology Laboratory at UAF operates as a regional facility with interests in geologic and geochronologic problems in Alaska and elsewhere. The PI maintains strong collaborations with researchers at the Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys, the United States Geological Survey and at U.S. and foreign universities, and it is expected that the upgrades will allow these collaborations to continue and expand. This upgrade will prove beneficial for continuing research in thermochronometric and chronostratigraphic studies, application of argon isotopes as indicators of magmatic processes and the dating of very young samples. ***