Upgrade of the Duke University Electron Microprobe

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1028271BoudreauThis award provides $11,840 in NSF funding over 12 months to acquire an EDS spectrometer which uses Silicon Drift Detector (SSD) technology. The current detector uses an older technology which makes analyses very slow relative to the requested detector and carries additional costs for consumable liquid nitrogen. Duke and UNC will support half the unit cost. The new detector will be used for Earth and materials sciences at UNC and Duke. Science to be undertaken with the new detector will involve study of volatiles and volatile-rich fluids during interstitial fluid crystallization, the textural evolution of layered intrusions, plutonic petrogenesis and growth, detrital zircon transport, mineralogy, oceanic basalt geochemistry, and paleoclimatology and paleoceanography. The facility supports a wide range of petrographic, geochemical and environmental research interests at Duke and the UNC, as well as other colleges and universities in North Carolina. The new detector will be incorporated into courses to both undergraduate and graduate students in geosciences. Two non-working spare instruments are on hand for obtaining outdated parts. The instrument will be maintained by the PI. The PI will also train new users. The upgraded instrument is not expected to require any more support than currently needed. ***