MRI: Acquisition of a Next Generation Noble Gas Multi-collector Mass Spectrometer System to Support Fundamental and Applied Geochronology Research and Education

该合同将用于购买下一代仪器，用于测量岩石材料中的惰性气体，以满足地质年代学的限制。地质年代学可以应用于人类学、行星科学和地球过程系统的广泛领域，从地表到地球深处。这个阿拉斯加大学费尔班克斯实验室将是一个多用户设施，以促进学生、研究人员、阿拉斯加第一人民公司、政府机构和私人经济地质实体的研究目标。我们将寻求多种研究途径，包括向科学界提供更容易获得的碎屑40Ar/39Ar年代学，调查年轻(低于1万年)火山岩产品测年的一些问题，以及提高成矿时间测定的精确度，以帮助经济地质学兴趣。整个项目将增加学生接触地质年代学数据集的机会，并对学生进行先进的地质年代学实验室方法和仪器操作方面的培训。学生还将为地球科学的职业生涯做好准备。该项目将涉及新一代40Ar/39Ar惰性气体多收集器段质谱仪系统的安装、校准和运行。该系统包括一条定制的萃取线、一台二氧化碳激光器和一个电阻炉，用于在质谱仪上测量之前对岩石样品进行脱气和净化提取的气体。惰性气体质谱仪将能够同时测量五种主要的Ar同位素，导致精度比单一探测器上希望达到峰值的测量精度提高10倍。新仪器的高灵敏度和高分辨率能力将允许在更小的样品尺寸上进行测量，并优先用于单颗粒应用。该仪器系统将被用来进一步追踪年轻火山岩产品中超标36Ar的存在和原因。仪器系统的能力还将增加单颗粒测年能力，从而使碎屑样品的40Ar/39Ar测年更准确、更省时。现代仪器不仅将使学生能够更多地获取地质年代学数据，而且还将提供一种旨在培训未来几代地质年代学家的设施。该项目由EAR仪器与设备计划、既定的激励竞争性研究计划(EPSCoR)和重大研究仪器计划联合资助。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This award will fund the acquisition of a next generation instrument to measure noble gases in rock material for geochronology constraints. Geochronology can be applied to the breadth of anthropology pursuits, planetary sciences and earth process systems from the surface to the deep earth. This University of Alaska Fairbanks laboratory will be a multi-user facility to facilitate the research goals of students, researchers, Alaska’s first people corporations, government agencies, and private economic geology entities. We will pursue many avenues of study including making detrital 40Ar/39Ar geochronology more readily available to the scientific community, investigating some of the problems with dating young (younger than 10,000 years old) volcanic rock products, and increasing the precision of dating the timing of mineralization to assist economic geology interests. The overall project will increase student access to geochronology data sets and train students in advanced geochronology laboratory methods and instrument operations. Student will also be prepared for careers in the earth sciences. This project will involve the installation, calibration, and operation of a next generation 40Ar/39Ar noble gas multi-collector sector mass spectrometer system. The system includes a custom extraction line, a CO2 laser, and a resistance furnace for degassing rock samples and cleaning up the extracted gases before measurement on the mass spectrometer. The noble gas mass spectrometer will be able to measure the five main argon isotopes concurrently leading to a 10X increase in precision over peak-hoping measurements on a single detector. The high-sensitivity and high resolution capabilities of the new instrumentation will allow measurements to be made on smaller samples sizes with a preference for single-grain applications. The instrument system will be used to further pursue the presence and causes of excess 36Ar in young volcanic rock products. The capabilities of the instrument system will also allow increased single-grain dating throughput allowing for more precise and more time efficient 40Ar/39Ar dating of detrital samples. The modern instrumentation will not only allow more access to geochronology data for students, but will provide a facility designed to enable training of future generations of geochronologists. This project is jointly funded by the EAR Instrumentation & Facilities Program, the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), and the Major Research Instrumentation Program.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.