MRI: Acquisition of a Multi-Collector ICP-MS with Laser Ablation for Geochemical and Geochronological Applications

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This award supports the acquisition of a multi-collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (MC-ICP-MS) with a laser ablation (LA) system to be housed in the Department of Geology and Environmental Earth Science at Miami University. The (LA)-MC-ICP-MS will complement the existing Triton thermal ionization mass spectrometer (TIMS), creating a state-of-the-art isotope geochemistry facility for student training and research initiatives in a wide range of geoscience and related disciplines. The (LA)-MC-ICP-MS will enable students to gain significant hands-on experience with modern analytical techniques that are becoming widely applied across disciplines in science and medicine, and throughout industry and government employment sectors. The new instrumentation will also be a key component of two new programs that the PIs will develop for training and mentoring of underrepresented groups in STEM: a summer research program for local high school girls, and a First Year Research Experience for minority students, linked to Miami's Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation program.The (LA)-MC-ICP-MS will facilitate research initiatives in the areas of high temperature geochemistry (e.g., crustal evolution, growth of orogenic belts, subduction fluxes, magmatic processes and timescales) and low-temperature geochemistry (e.g., paleoclimate reconstruction, ore deposit formation, fate and transport of environmental contaminants), as well as geoarchaeology, geobiology, geomicrobiology, planetary geology, and nuclear forensics. The research will involve analysis of a wide range of radiogenic (Nd, Pb, Hf, Th, U) and non-traditional stable isotope systems, including several that are in the relatively early stages of development and application, e.g., solution-based Mo, Ag, 235U/238U "stable" isotope systems; and in situ U-Pb and U-Th dating (carbonates) and Sr, Mg, and S isotopes via LA-MC-ICP-MS. As such, acquisition of the proposed instrumentation will contribute to further establishing these isotope systems and techniques as useful geochemical tools that can be used community-wide and applied to a wide range of future scientific investigations.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.