Collaborative Research: Analytical Techniques and Software: Development of CyberInfrastructure to Support Laser-Ablation ICP Mass Spectrometry

U-Pb 激光烧蚀地质年代学已成为锆石定年最常用的工具。尽管该工具广泛应用于许多地质问题，但在分析策略和数据缩减协议方面却几乎没有达成共识。其结果是实验室间偏差以及计算日期误差的低估和高估。这限制了我们比较不同实验室结果的能力，并限制了 EarthChem 等数据库的严格编译。该项目将通过开发支持激光烧蚀ICP-质谱（LA-ICP-MS）的网络基础设施工具来解决这一问题。该项目将与国际社会协商开发开源免费软件，以严格的统计方式处理数据缩减的各个方面，从比率计算到干扰和漂移校正。我们的方法将遵循作为 EARTHTIME 项目一部分开发类似软件所使用的方法，并且需要集成软件工程和地球化学领域。由此产生的软件将消除大量实验室间偏差，并作为教学工具清楚地显示原始比率如何转换为日期和不确定性。创建用于将 LA-ICP-MS 社区与正在开发的地质年代学和热年代学 EarthChem 数据库连接起来的软件，将把这项重要技术的数据集成到地球化学和地质学的更大数据结构中。这些数据将在了解大陆的增长、进化变化的年表、早期原始人类进化的时间以及气候与构造之间的联系等广泛领域发挥重要作用。在计划工作的所有阶段，我们将吸引从本科生到博士后科学家的广泛社会阶层的参与，以帮助培养下一代分析师和软件工程师。特别是，软件工程师和地球科学家之间合作的系统化发展将得到推进，因为它产生了强大而可靠的工作流程工具。

U-Pb laser ablation geochronology has become the most commonly applied tool for dating zircons. Despite the widespread application of this tool to a host of geological problems, there is little consensus with regard to analytical strategies and data reduction protocols. The result is inter-laboratory bias and both under- and over-estimation of errors on calculated dates. This limits our ability to compare results from different labs and limits rigorous compilations from databases such as EarthChem. This project will remedy this situation by developing cyber infrastructure tools in support of Laser-Ablation ICP-Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). The project will develop open-source, free, software in consultation with the international community to treat with statistical rigor all aspects of data reduction, from calculation of ratios to correction for interferences and drift. Our approach will follow that used in developing similar software as part of the EARTHTIME project and requires the integration of the fields of software engineering and geochemistry. The resulting software will eliminate large sources of interlaboratory bias and serve as a teaching tool showing clearly how raw ratios are converted into dates and uncertainties.Creating the software for connecting the LA-ICP-MS community with the developing EarthChem database for geochronology and thermochronology will provide the integration of data from this important technique into the larger data structure of geochemistry and geology. These data will play an important role in far-ranging fields such as understanding the growth of continents, chronology of evolutionary changes, timing of early hominid evolution, and linkages between climate and tectonics. During all phases of the planned work, we will involve a broad cross section of the community from undergraduates to post-doctoral scientists to help develop the next generation of analysts and software engineers. In particular, the systematic evolution of the collaboration between software engineers and earth scientists will be advanced as it produces robust and reliable workflow tools.