Acquisition of a New Stable Isotope ratio Mass Spectrometer with Carbonate and Water Systems to Support Earth Science Research at Rutgers University

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This award supports the acquisition of an isotope-ratio mass spectrometer (IRMS) with an attached peripheral at Rutgers University that will permit the automated analysis of oxygen, carbon and hydrogen isotopes in carbonate minerals and water samples. The instrument is equipped with the latest technology in stable isotope mass spectrometry to allow expansion into the field of “clumped-isotope” paleo-thermometry. The new instrument will critically support several active research programs at Rutgers University, investigating paleo-climate questions that span from the most recent millennia back to 100’s of millions of years. The Stable Isotope Laboratory (SIL) at Rutgers is also used by researchers at regional institutions who do not have stable isotope capabilities, such as Seton Hall, William Paterson, CUNY-Queens, among others. The SIL at Rutgers has and will continue to measure samples from corals, foraminifera, pedogenic carbonates, speleothems, and fossil bones/teeth, as well as water samples collected from the Antarctic continental margin, Arctic Ocean, deep-sea pore waters, and elsewhere. The clumped isotope capabilities will augment many of these projects adding a new dimension to current and future projects. Finally, the new IRMS will be actively used for education and training of undergraduate and graduate students as well as post-doctoral researchers. For over two decades, the SIL has been used to provide experiential learning in both graduate and undergraduate classes.The new IRMS instrument will become the workhorse for an active group of researchers investigating paleo-climate problems. Stable oxygen isotope measurements are used to provide initial stratigraphies for marine sedimentary cores and coral drillcores, but will also provide paleotemperature, ice volume estimates and freshwater inputs especially when combined with trace metal capabilities already existing at Rutgers. Carbon isotope measurements provide projects with critical data to address carbon cycling and storage. Carbon isotope measurements are also used by researchers to infer landscape changes such as the proportion of C3 vs C4 plants and paleo-diet in mammals. We will continue to measure oxygen isotopes in water samples because data analysis in various projects require the precision (0.05‰) afforded by IRMS. Examples include pore water isotopic measurements from marine cores that have a range of ~0.5‰ but can be used to calculate glacial-interglacial variations in seawater oxygen isotope changes. The ability to measure “clumped” or triple-bond isotopologues will expand the research capabilities among researchers who use the SIL at Rutgers presently as well as bring new researchers. The clumped methodology allows for the independent measurement of temperature in carbonate samples, freeing us from assumptions about the d18Owater content. This award received co-funding from the Marine Geology and Geophysics program in the Ocean Sciences Division.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.