Facility Support: Accelerator Mass Spectrometry at PRIME Lab

设施支持：PRIME 实验室的加速器质谱分析

• 批准号: 1560658
• 负责人: Marc Caffee
• 金额: $ 354万
• 依托单位: Purdue University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-08-01 至 2023-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1560658&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Facility; Support; Accelerator; Mass; Spectrometry

The Purdue Rare Isotope Measurement Laboratory (PRIME Lab) is a national, multi-user facility dedicated to the measurement of cosmogenic radionuclides using accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS). This award will provide management and operations support for this facility. Significant geologic processes occur over a wide variety of time-scales. Catastrophic changes, large debris flows or floods, occur over short time-scales but other changes, such as long-term erosion of landscape or glacial cycles occur over longer time-scales, thousands to millions of years. These changes nonetheless play a dominant role in landscape evolution and directly impact the welfare of human populations world-wide. Measuring the rates of these processes and reconstructing a chronology for them is a challenge and geoscientists employ a number of tools to extract this information from the geologic archive. Cosmic-ray produced nuclides, especially those measured by accelerator mass spectrometry, are now routinely used to obtain chronologies and determine erosion rates for significant geologic processes. In the last decade these nuclides have been used to reconstruct glacial chronologies, which in turn provides a record of past climates. They have also been used to show linkages between tectonic activity and erosion rates. The pursuit of these studies has involved PhD students and researchers from dozens of universities within the US. At PRIME Lab they not only learn how to perform the physical and chemical preparation of samples, but they also participate in the measurement of their samples on the PRIME Lab accelerator mass spectrometry system. The interaction between students, faculty, and professional staff at PRIME facilitates interaction with geologists, chemists, and physicists, providing a near unique opportunity to expand the educational opportunity beyond the focus of the research projects. With continued NSF support, PRIME Lab will continue utilizing the unique capabilities of a larger accelerator for the benefit of the geoscience community. Given the limited number of multi-isotope facilities in the US, we anticipate growth in the number of measurements (and sample preparation) required by the geoscience community. In addition to more routine measurements, we are the only laboratory in the US positioned to advance the state-of-the-art using a gas-filled-magnet. We have already demonstrated the efficacy of the instrumentation for 10Be, 26Al, and 36Cl, especially 26Al. For the next five years, PRIME Lab will continue to advance the application of cosmogenic nuclides in the geosciences through increased productivity of routinely measured nuclides and by the development of new measurement technologies and applications harnessing these advances.

普渡大学稀有同位素测量实验室（PRIME Lab）是一个国家级的多用户设施，致力于使用加速器质谱法（AMS）测量宇宙成因放射性核素。 该合同将为该设施提供管理和运营支持。 重要的地质作用发生在各种各样的时间尺度上。灾难性的变化，如大规模泥石流或洪水，发生在很短的时间尺度上，但其他变化，如长期的地貌侵蚀或冰川循环，发生在较长的时间尺度上，从数千年到数百万年。尽管如此，这些变化在景观演变中起着主导作用，并直接影响到全世界人类的福祉。测量这些过程的速率并重建它们的年表是一项挑战，地球科学家使用许多工具从地质档案中提取这些信息。宇宙射线产生的核素，特别是加速器质谱仪测量的核素，现在通常用于获得年表和确定重要地质过程的侵蚀速率。在过去的十年里，这些核素被用来重建冰川年表，从而提供了过去气候的记录。它们也被用来显示构造活动和侵蚀速率之间的联系。这些研究的追求涉及来自美国数十所大学的博士生和研究人员。在PRIME Lab，他们不仅学习如何进行样品的物理和化学制备，而且还参与在PRIME Lab加速器质谱系统上测量样品。PRIME的学生，教师和专业人员之间的互动促进了与地质学家，化学家和物理学家的互动，提供了一个近乎独特的机会，可以将教育机会扩展到研究项目的重点之外。在NSF的持续支持下，PRIME实验室将继续利用更大加速器的独特功能，为地球科学界服务。鉴于美国的多同位素设施数量有限，我们预计地球科学界所需的测量（和样品制备）数量将增加。除了更多的常规测量外，我们是美国唯一一家能够使用充气磁体推进最先进技术的实验室。我们已经证明了仪器对10Be，26Al和36Cl，特别是26Al的有效性。在接下来的五年里，PRIME实验室将通过提高常规测量核素的生产率以及开发利用这些进步的新测量技术和应用，继续推进宇宙成因核素在地球科学中的应用。