Acquisition of a Multi-Sensor Core Logger for Syracuse University

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This National Science Foundation (NSF) grant supports the purchase of a multi-sensor core logger (MSCL) for the Department of Earth Sciences, Syracuse University. The MSCL scans drilled sediment and rock cores and identifies their properties. The MSCL uses several sensors to detect color variations, sediment density, magnetic properties, and sound speed. Describing earth materials from different environments is fundamental to paleoclimate and paleoenvironmental research. Such research informs our understanding of climate change and earth system processes. In addition, the MSCL provides valuable information for identifying subsurface pollutants, and provides information for engineering, geoarcheology, and geological resource assessment. This instrument supports the NSF mission of promoting the progress of science and advancing the national health, prosperity and welfare. This technology will be available to students and faculty from other institutions in Upstate New York and will benefit diverse researchers from regional geoscience and environmental science communities. Moreover, the sophisticated array of sensors combines several earth science techniques in a single instrument making the MSCL a valuable tool for STEM educational outreach and training.The multi-sensor core logger (MSCL) funded by this grant to Syracuse University from the National Science Foundation includes the following components: 1) the MSCL-S base system with computer and software, 2) an acoustic P-wave system for measuring sound-wave propagation, 3) a gamma-density measurement system, 4) a magnetic susceptibility system for whole and split cores, 5) a color-spectroscopy system (wavelengths 360-740 nm) for quantifying color and lithology, and 6) a line-scan camera for high-resolution core photos. The integrated MSCL-S system will be used in the research of several faculty members in the Department of Earth Science at Syracuse University with expertise in paleoenvironmental reconstructions using core materials. Faculty research in the department that will be supported by this instrument include using color spectroscopy and lithological changes in lake-sediments to investigate tropical drought and ocean-atmosphere linkages during the Cenozoic, as well as Arctic climate and permafrost dynamics over the late Quaternary. Researchers studying basin evolution over a range of geologic timescales will use the combination of gamma and p-wave sensors on the MSCL-S to create ?synthetic seismograms?, which allow for precise calibration of core material to basin-wide seismic reflection data. Ongoing departmental research using a combination of anoxic lake sediments and geologic samples to explore global carbon cycle and ocean anoxic events will also benefit from access to the suite of sensors on this instrument. Furthermore, educational outreach, locally-based research projects, and resource development and management in Upstate New York will directly benefit from the central location of the instrument at Syracuse University.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.