Acquisition of Ion Chromatograph for Fluorine Relative Dating of Quaternary Fossil Bone

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0317279McFarlaneThis grant supports the acquisition of an ion chromatograph (IC) to be used for fluorine relative dating (FRD) of skeletal apatite in paleobiological investigations of Quaternary mammalian evolution and extinction in the West Indies. The FRD technique is based on the principle that bone hydroxyapatite irreversibly acquires fluorine from groundwater so that the ratio of measured fluoride to phosphate concentrations in fossil bone is time dependent. An IC can be used to directly measure both fluoride and phosphorus concentrations in bone samples simultaneously allowing for higher efficiency and more precise FRD of bone sample than can be done using independent techniques to measure for halogen and nutrient concentrations in fossil bone. The FRD technique will allow for rapid and inexpensive preliminary relative dating of fossil skeletal remains that in many cases will later be more rigorously dated via radiocarbon techniques. The IC will support hands-on undergraduate involvement in analytical chemistry techniques as applied to modern research in paleobiology at Scripps College, a women's undergraduate institution.***