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

U-Pb激光烧蚀年代学已成为最常用的锆石测年工具。尽管这一工具在许多地质问题上得到了广泛的应用，但在分析战略和数据简化协议方面几乎没有达成共识。其结果是实验室间的偏差，以及对计算日期的误差的低估和高估。这限制了我们比较不同实验室的结果的能力，并限制了从数据库(如EarthChem)进行严格的汇编。该项目将通过开发支持激光消融电感耦合等离子体质谱(LA-ICPMS)的网络基础设施工具来纠正这种情况。该项目将与国际社会协商开发开放源码的免费软件，以严格的统计方法处理数据减少的所有方面，从比率的计算到干扰和漂移的校正。我们的方法将遵循作为EARTHTIME项目的一部分开发类似软件时使用的方法，并要求软件工程和地球化学领域的整合。由此产生的软件将消除大量实验室间的偏差，并作为一种教学工具，清楚地展示如何将原始比率转换为日期和不确定性。创建用于连接LA-ICPMS社区与正在开发的地球化学年代学和热年代学数据库的软件，将把这项重要技术的数据整合到更大的地球化学和地质学数据结构中。这些数据将在了解大陆的增长、进化变化的年表、早期人类进化的时间以及气候和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，我们将涉及从本科生到博士后科学家的广泛领域，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的协作的系统演变将得到推进，因为它产生了强大和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.