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

主要研究人员将购买一台新仪器（质谱仪），主要用于两个目的。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。气候记录将让我们了解自然气候变化的程度，有多大，有多快，地理范围有多广。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更灵敏、更精确地测量海水中自然存在的微量铀的能力。这些测量结果将有助于了解海洋循环的速度，以及海洋中碳和铀的化学循环信息。在某种程度上，这个项目进一步加深了我们对过去气候变化特征的认识和对气候变化原因的理解，它具有广泛的社会价值。这个项目还将促进数百名国内外科学家与明尼苏达大学小组之间已经广泛的合作，并有助于培训下一代地球科学家。

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.