Technician Support: Phase I Technician Support for AIRIE Program TIMS Laboratory

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EAR-0451693SteinThe AIRIE Program (AIRIE), Colorado State University (CSU), recently acquired funding for a new Multi-Collector Thermal Ionization Mass Spectrometer (MC-TIMS). This award provides three years of support, 80% from NSF and 20% from CSU, for a research technician dedicated to installation, calibration, and testing of the new MC-TIMS, and subsequently assisting with methodological innovations to take advantage of greatly improved analytical capabilities. Technician support will underpin growth of the Program through increased student involvement, increased Front Range collaborations, and expansion of global partnerships. New research opportunities will build on AIRIE's nine-year history of collaborations with over 250 scientists from industry, government and academia, on projects spanning five continents. To date, the focus of the Program has been on development, testing, and application of the rhenium-osmium (Re-Os) molybdenite geochronometer, with transfer of this technology to the mineral industry for application in exploration. Improved instrumentation and technical support broaden the array of both fundamental and applied research opportunities, including (1) utilization of the molybdenite geochronometer for tectonic reconstructions and fundamental earth history, (2) exploration of Re-Os systematics in other ore minerals, including the possibility of direct dating of tungstates, gold, and other sulfides, (3) investigation of Re and Os distribution in the lower crust and the behavior of Re and Os during melting and assimilation of lower crustal rocks to better understand the evolution of continental crust, (4) further development of methods for Re-Os dating of carbonaceous shales, providing age control with applications for both the petroleum and mineral industry, (5) application of Re-Os systematics in carbonaceous shales to define variations in Os isotope chemistry of seawater through geologic time, with implications for changes in weathering processes and the rise of atmospheric oxygen, (6) development and application of new isotopic systems, especially molybdenum-ruthenium (Mo-Ru) for understanding double-beta decay and its implications for fundamental problems in physics.