MRI: Acquisition of a Multi-collector Inductively-coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer for Research and Education in the Earth and Environmental Sciences

主要调查人员将购买一台新仪器(质谱仪)，他们将用于两个主要目的。他们将对从北美、南美和欧亚大陆的洞穴中收集的洞穴沉积物进行化学分析。这些分析将提供每个洞穴遗址的气候历史信息。气候记录将为我们提供自然气候变化的程度、程度、速度和地理范围的概念。它们还将帮助我们了解自然气候变化的原因。主要研究人员还将使用新的质谱仪来开发对海水中自然存在的痕量铀进行更灵敏和精确测量的能力。这些测量将提供对海洋循环速度的洞察，以及关于海洋中碳和铀的化学循环的信息。这个项目在一定程度上加深了我们对过去气候变化特征的了解和对气候变化原因的理解，具有广泛的社会价值。该项目还将促进国内外数百名科学家与明尼苏达大学小组的广泛合作，并为培训下一代地球科学家作出贡献。

The principal investigators will purchase a new instrument (a mass spectrometer) that they will use for two main purposes. They will perform chemical analyses on cave deposits collected from caves in North America, South America, and Eurasia. The analyses will provide information about the climate history at each of the cave sites. The climate records will provide us with an idea of the extent of natural climate change, how much, how rapid, how extensive geographically. They will also help us to understand the causes of natural climate change. The principal investigators will also use the new mass spectrometer to develop capabilities for more sensitive and precise measurements of trace amounts of uranium present naturally in seawater. These measurements will provide insight into how rapidly the ocean circulates and information about the chemical cycles of carbon and uranium in the ocean. To the extent that this project furthers our knowledge of the character of past climate change and our understanding of the causes of climate change, it is of broad societal value. This project will also stimulate the already extensive collaboration among hundreds of scientists nationally and internationally with the University of Minnesota group and contribute to the training of the next generation of Earth scientists.