MRI: Acquisition of a Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer (LA-ICP-MS) for Earth and Marine Science Research

PI申请资金购买LA-ICP-MS系统，用于地球科学、海洋学和气候变化研究中各种基质和材料的元素和同位素比例的高分辨率分析。获得LA-ICP-MS将为UNC - CH和其他区域机构的不同学科的研究人员提供服务。所要求的LA-ICP-MS系统适用于UNC - CH的多个早期、中级和高级研究人员的广泛研究项目。这些项目包括研究碳酸盐矿物学的时间趋势，开发多元素珊瑚古温度计以重建最近的气候变化，在海洋酸化实验中对碳酸盐外壳和骨骼进行同位素标记，研究合成和生物碳酸盐中的微量元素分配。研究流纹岩岩浆的起源和演化，研究岩体与火山岩的关系，对锆石进行U- pb测年，评估河流和海岸环境向海洋的U和Th同位素通量，对古海洋代用物进行成岩筛选，并对鱼类石质进行元素指纹图谱，以研究鱼类迁徙、幼虫扩散和种群连系模式。更广泛的影响：拟议的活动将促进地球科学一系列学科的科学进步，并有助于培训一系列研究人员及其同事。这将特别有利于在UNC-CH建立5名初级研究人员，他们正在开发新的研究项目。已经确定了来自伯利兹的一名少数民族博士后和两名少数民族学生在新设施接受培训。

The PI's request funding to acquire a LA-ICP-MS system to be used for the high resolution analysis of elemental and isotopic ratios of various substrates and materials in earth science, oceanographic, and climate change research. Acquisition of LA-ICP-MS would serve researchers working within various disciplines at UNC - CH and at other regional institutions. The requested LA-ICP-MS system is required for the broad range of research projects of multiple early career, mid-level, and senior researchers at UNC - CH. These projects include investigating temporal trends in carbonate mineralogy, developing a multielemental coral paleothermometer to reconstruct recent climate change, isotopic labeling of carbonate shells and skeletons in ocean acidification experiments, investigating trace element partitioning in synthetic and biogenic carbonates, investigating the origin and evolution of rhyolite magmas, investigating the relationship between plutons and volcanic rocks, reconnaissance U-Pb dating of zircons, evaluating the flux of U and Th isotopes from rivers and coastal environments to the ocean, diagenetic screening of paleoceanographic proxies, and elemental fingerprinting of fish otoliths to investigate patterns of fish migration, larval dispersal, and population connectivity.Broader Impacts: The proposed activity will contribute to the advancement of science in a range of disciplines in geoscience, and to the training of a range of researchers and their associates. It will especially benefit the establishment of 5 junior researchers at UNC-CH whom are in the process of developing new research programs. One minority post-doc and two minority students from Belize have already been identified to receive training in the new facility.