Acquisition of a tunable diode laser system (TILDAS) Aerodyne Mini-TILDAS CO2 Isotope Monitor for triple isotope analyses of CO2 gas from carbonates

地球科学仪器和设施计划的这一部分拨款支持购买允许分析碳酸盐岩石和矿物释放的二氧化碳气体中所含的所有稳定氧同位素（16O，17O和18O）的设备，以便对地层记录中记录的地球过去的气候和环境条件进行深入研究。 该仪器将满足大量教师和学生的研究需求，最初支持两名研究生，一名博士后科学家和两名早期职业科学家的教育。 该仪器将安置在新墨西哥州大学稳定同位素中心（CSI），该中心每周举办学生研讨会，并举办年度学生竞赛，以支持有价值的项目实验室分析成本。 调查人员将利用该仪器对沉积碳酸盐进行三重氧同位素研究，作为其形成温度和地层流体同位素组成的替代。 用于17O测量的TILDAS是一种新的仪器，其预期的分析精度可与传统的测量方法相媲美。TILDAS分析时间为30分钟，而传统气源稳定同位素比质谱（SIRMS）分析时间为4天。 TILDAS可以分析比SIRMS小一个数量级的样本量。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This Division of Earth Sciences Instrumentation and Facilities Program grant supports acquisition of device that permits analysis of all the stable isotopes of Oxygen (16O, 17O and 18O) contained in carbon dioxide gas liberated from carbonate rocks and minerals to enable advanced studies of Earth’s past climate and environmental conditions as recorded in the stratigraphic record. The instrument will serve the research needs of a large number of faculty and students, initially supporting the education of two graduate students, a postdoctoral scientist and two early career scientists on the investigator team. The instrument will be housed in the University of New Mexico Center for Stable Isotopes (CSI) which hosts weekly student seminars and hosts an annual student competition to support meritorious project laboratory analytical costs.A tunable infrared laser direct absorption spectroscopy (TILDAS) will be acquired. The investigators will employ the instrument for triple oxygen isotope studies of sedimentary carbonates as proxies of the temperature of their formation and isotopic composition of formation fluids. A TILDAS tuned for 17O measurements is a new instrument with anticipated analytical precision rivaling the traditional fluorination method. TILDAS analysis times are 30 minutes versus 4 days for fluorination followed by traditional gas source stable isotope ratio mass spectrometry (SIRMS). TILDAS can analyze sample sizes an order of magnitude smaller than SIRMS.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.