Acquisistion of a Gas Source Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometer for the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Rochester

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EAR-0317825GarizoneThis grant will be used to purchase a gas source isotope ratio mass spectrometer (IRMS) for analysis of O and H isotopes in water; O and C isotopes in carbonate, dissolved inorganic carbon, and CO2 gas; and C and N isotopes in organic matter. Primary users of this equipment will be the faculty, students, and visiting researchers in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Rochester. This equipment will help us meet our research and teaching needs in the geological and environmental sciences, while continuing to develop strengths in geochemistry and tectonics. Stable isotope techniques are fundamental to paleoenvironmental studies. Understanding paleoclimate, paleoaltitude, and/or paleovegetation in the context of the tectonic evolution of mountain belts (P.I.'s main research focus) will potentially yield great advances in our understanding of the impacts of tectonics on regional and global climate. The proposed equipment will provide a wide range of applications enabling the analysis of carbonate, organic matter, water and gas samples essential to studies of ancient and modern environment, mantle processes, biological processes, and paleoceanography. The broader impacts of this proposal are that acquisition of an IRMS will greatly enhance undergraduate, graduate, and post-doctoral education at the University of Rochester by enabling students to get training on equipment that is widely used within the geological and environmental sciences. This proposal is part of a departmental effort that emphasizes undergraduate/graduate-level laboratory based instruction and independent research. In the courses that are taught within the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences there is a strong emphasis on stable isotope applications in the geological and environmental sciences. There is an additional course on Analytical Methods in Geochemistry, which gives both undergraduate and graduate students hands-on training on existing equipment within the department, enabling them to use the equipment to collect their own data for senior thesis or graduate research projects.