Community Facility Support: The UCLA National Ion Microprobe

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This award will provide funding for the continued support of the UCLA ion microprobe facility. The award permits the laboratory to maintain a world-leading facility for in situ microscale isotopic analyses of geologic materials and to provide access to its capabilities to the broader community to address important problems in Earth and planetary science. Over the course of NSF EAR Instrumentation and Facilities support, the facility has hosted many hundreds of scientists and students whose research, along with our own, has had a significant impact in the Earth sciences. While operating an open facility, the team strives to be a leader in scientific innovation and in pioneering applications in cognate disciplines, and one that has a broad impact in science education. The scientific expertise and instrumental infrastructure capabilities of this laboratory remain at the leading edge of isotopic geoscience investigations and support of this grant will permit the laboratory to continue to operate as a national ion microprobe facility to promote progress in geosciences. The principal role of this facility within the national geoscience infrastructure has been in providing leadership in secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) accessory mineral dating. As scientific investigations have evolved towards probing ever smaller spatial scales, new complexities in the behavior of minerals hosting geochronometric systems have emerged, placing special emphasis on the high lateral resolution capabilities of the ims1290 instrument. High-resolution analyses of correlated isotopic, elemental, and mineralogical properties are also required to investigate and interpret proxy ‘environmental’ records, whether they are encoded in samples originating on the early Earth, in the biosphere, or on other planetary bodies. In this funding period, the facility will shift most applications to the state-of-the-art ims1290 with its ultra-high spatial resolution and capacity for high precision analyses and begin to emphasize remote operation. The now 30 year old ims1270 instrument will be limited to niche analyses and begin to be phased out. The research staff will further develop mineral inclusion petrology, high resolution ion imaging of accessory minerals, and accessory mineral geochemistry, investigate tin in zircon as a potential thermometer/oxybarometer, analyze returned extraterrestrial sample (asteroids Ryugu and Bennu), and refine high precision analyses of ∆36S.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.