Continued development and application of 40Ar/39Ar dating for archaeometric research

在美国国家科学基金会的支持下，Alan Deino博士和Paul Renne博士将着手一项为期三年的工作，升级加利福尼亚州伯克利伯克利地质年代学中心的40Ar/39Ar测年设施，以获得尽可能高的精确度、准确度和吞吐量，以及最广泛的能力来确定与考古相关的地质样品的年龄。40Ar/39Ar测年方法在考古学和古人类学背景下具有最广泛的时间适用范围，是一种高度准确和精确的测年工具，对人类和类人进化的研究做出了广泛的贡献。虽然在某些方面是例行公事，但不断发展的技术允许该方法的能力不断改进，特别是在测定较年轻、较小或较少含钾物质的年代方面。这种改进带来了巨大的科学红利，扩大了可以解决的问题的范围。这笔赠款对于保持考古界和古人类界40Ar/39Ar测年的常规可用性以及促进BGC的40Ar/39Ar测年方法的能力都是至关重要的。它将有助于维持对高质量40Ar/39Ar数据的常规访问，用于世界各地的考古学和古人类学研究，并继续改进40Ar/39Ar方法，以提高精密度和准确度，特别是在适用性较年轻的一端。最后，这笔赠款将提供更换或增强旧设备的机会，以保持高水平的生产力和卓越的科学水平。为了在未来三年实现这些目标，赠款将主要集中在三个领域：1)开发一种超清洁、高通量的提取系统，该系统将与单独资助的新的多收集器惰性气体质谱仪相匹配；2)继续开发使用新的多收集器机器所需的计算机控制系统和数据简化技术；以及3)改进样品处理设施，以提高样品制备的效率。为了充分利用新的多收集器质谱仪预期的高度加速的数据收集速度，以快速产能为特征的新一代提取线将是必不可少的。随着新一代多收集器机器在40Ar/39Ar测年界的突破，内部计算机控制系统的进一步开发是必要的。样品制备的改进将使高质量样品的供应能够跟上分析吞吐量的增加。

With National Science Foundation support, Drs. Alan Deino and Paul Renne will embark on a three-year effort to upgrade the 40Ar/39Ar dating facilities at the Berkeley Geochronology Center in Berkeley, California, in order to attain the highest possible levels of precision, accuracy and throughput, and the broadest range of capability in determining the age of geological samples related to archaeometry. The 40Ar/39Ar dating method has the broadest temporal range of applicability in archeological and paleoanthropological contexts, and is well established as a highly accurate and precise dating tool that has contributed widely to the study of hominid and hominoid evolution. Though routine in some regards, evolving technology permits continued improvements in the method's capabilities, particularly in dating younger, smaller, or less potassic materials. Such improvements pay large scientific dividends by expanding the scope of problems that can be solved.This grant will be vital both to maintaining routine availability of 40Ar/39Ar dating for the archeological and paleoanthropological communities, as well as to advance the capabilities of 40Ar/39Ar dating methods at BGC. It will help sustain routine access to high-quality 40Ar/39Ar data for archeological and paleoanthropological research worldwide and to continue refinement of 40Ar/39Ar methods to improve precision and accuracy, particularly at the younger end of applicability. Finally, this grant will provide the opportunity to replace or augment old equipment to maintain high levels of productivity and scientific excellence.In order to address these goals over the next three years, the grant will be focused primarily in three areas: 1) Development of an ultra clean, high-throughput extraction system that will be a suitable match to a separately funded, new multi-collector noble-gas mass spectrometer; 2) Continued development of the computer control systems and data reduction techniques necessary to utilize the new multi-collector machine; and 3) Modifications to sample processing facilities to improve efficiency of sample preparation. A new generation extraction line characterized by rapid throughput will be essential to take full advantage of the highly accelerated speed of data collection anticipated with the new multi-collector mass spectrometer. Further development of in-house computer control systems is necessitated by the requirements of a new generation of multi-collector machines that is now breaking on the 40Ar/39Ar dating community. Improvements in sample preparation will enable the supply of high-quality samples to keep pace with the increased analytical throughput.