MRI: Acquisition of a Multi-Collector Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer (MC-ICP-MS) for isotopic studies in earth and environmental studies

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This award provides funding for the acquisition of a new Multi-Collector Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer (MC-ICP-MS) instrument to support cutting-edge research in the earth and environmental sciences at Oregon State University (OSU). The acquisition of a latest generation MC-ICP-MS will have an immediate broad impact on the research of faculty at OSU and in the Pacific Northwest. Supported research activities have strong societal implications for the residents of the Pacific Northwest and elsewhere including studies of climate change, critical zone processes, anthropogenic pollution, natural hazards, and fisheries management. The acquisition will improve the ability of the College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences and the College of Agricultural Sciences (OSU) to produce highly skilled graduates prepared for careers in a range of settings. Undergraduate and graduate education and research will be supported through facility tours and instrument demonstrations, class projects, student research projects, and course exercises.The analytical capability enabled by the new MC-ICP-MS will position OSU to remain at the forefront of rapidly developing high impact research areas. In just the past 5 years, analytical improvements in the design of mass spectrometers continue to push the boundaries of precision and accuracy at higher and higher sensitivities. These improvements will open up many new avenues of research by reducing the amount of sample material needed, improving the sampling resolution for all applications, removing interferences, and through the simultaneous collection of a larger number of isotopes. Specific examples of projects imminently proposed that will be supported by the MC-ICP-MS include: developing heavy stable isotopes as tools in environmental applications (e.g., detecting and quantifying uranium removal from contaminated groundwater; tracing non-ferrous metal smelting emissions); understanding critical zone processes (including tracing sources of soil inputs and examining the relationship between climate, erosion, and weathering); laser ablation measurements of isotopic compositions at high spatial resolution; and climate change (including tracing ocean circulation in the past and reconstructing past ocean nutrient distributions).