Acquisition of a TIMS for Expanding Applications at the University of Houston

休斯顿大学购买 TIMS 以扩展应用

• 批准号: 1648630
• 负责人: Alan Brandon
• 金额: $ 33.5万
• 依托单位: University of Houston
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2018-08-15 至 2020-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1648630&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Acquisition; TIMS; Expanding; Applications; University

NSF funds will be used to acquire a thermal ionization mass spectrometer (TIMS) for the measurement of isotope ratios of elements. The isotope ratios acquired with the TIMS will be used to understand elemental cycles in the interior of the Earth and on its surface. The TIMS will be part of a Core Facility that will enable opportunities for researchers in the greater Texas Gulf region, and will foster collaborations with scientists outside of this region as well as internationally. The TIMS Core Facility has a strong history of serving students, post-docs, and faculty from diverse backgrounds and ethnicities. The work performed on the new TIMS will thus further undergraduate and graduate research in geochemistry and archeology involving women and underrepresented groups that will lead to successful outcomes for pursuing STEM careers. The TIMS will advance research and training in chemical petrology, isotope geochemistry and archeology. Isotope ratios from a broad spectrum of elements will be measured on a wide variety of materials to provide tracers for geological processes, ages of Earth materials, and for determining the histories of ancient human societies. Important questions that will be addressed with these data include: (1) how the Earth's mantle melts and how these melts subsequently react with the mantle as they migrate to the surface; (2) the timing of black shale formation in sedimentary basins; (3) the chemical evolution of seawater and how it relates to global climate changes in the past; (4) the origin of the Younger Dryas mass extinction at 12,800 years ago; and (5) constraining the Holocene demographic transformations in human societies.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

国家科学基金会的资金将用于购买一台热电离质谱仪，用于测量元素的同位素比。TIMS获得的同位素比率将用于了解地球内部及其表面的元素循环。 TIMS将成为核心设施的一部分，为大德克萨斯海湾地区的研究人员提供机会，并将促进与该地区以外以及国际上的科学家的合作。 TIMS核心设施在为来自不同背景和种族的学生，博士后和教师提供服务方面有着悠久的历史。因此，在新的TIMS上进行的工作将进一步促进涉及妇女和代表性不足的群体的地球化学和考古学的本科生和研究生研究，这将导致追求STEM职业的成功结果。TIMS将促进化学岩石学、同位素地球化学和考古学的研究和培训。 将在各种各样的材料上测量广泛的元素的同位素比率，为地质过程、地球材料的年龄和确定古代人类社会的历史提供示踪剂。 利用这些数据将解决的重要问题包括：（1）地球地幔如何熔化，以及这些熔化物在迁移到地表时随后如何与地幔发生反应;（2）沉积盆地中黑色页岩形成的时间;（3）海水的化学演变及其与过去全球气候变化的关系;（4）海洋的化学演变及其与过去全球气候变化的关系。（4）12,800年前新仙女木大灭绝的起源;以及（5）该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查进行评估来支持的搜索.