UPGRADE of existing Element2 (ICPMS) and ACQUiSITION of a Replacement Laser Ablation System at the University of Maryland, Geology

该合同将用于马里兰大学地质学系等离子体实验室内已有21年历史的Thermo Element 2电感耦合等离子体质谱仪的整修/升级。它还将为购买激光消融系统(LA)提供资金。系统升级将包括更换软件和一些电子和真空部件，使系统与同一仪器的现代版本兼容，从而可以使用。这次仪器升级与新的激光消融系统相结合，将延续等离子体实验室长达21年的研究和教育记录。这种支持将使该实验室能够继续处理目前由NSF赞助的研究，以及服务于未来的研究和教育需求。该实验室拥有并将保持丰富多样的研究项目组合，这些仪器涵盖从地核和地幔到地壳、表面过程和海洋-大气相互作用的各种主题。在其21年的历史中，等离子体实验室雇用并指导了38名本科生研究助理，为28个高级论文研究项目提供了获取地球化学数据的实践经验，并一直是用于培训学生(~53名研究生、~63名本科生、6名高中学生)和众多分析方法博士后的教学设施。这些用户中的一些人继续建立和运营自己的研究实验室。实验室对基础知识的贡献，以及我们的“后代”科学家的贡献，极大地增强了社会对地质和非地质过程的基础和应用知识。这一设施将对用于理解以下内容的样品的分析至关重要：(1)块状硅酸盐地球、核、陆壳和现代地幔的成分性质和来源；(2)变质过程中流体-岩石的相互作用并估计变质过程中的压力-温度-时间条件；(3)行星和行星体上的挥发性循环，包括地球、月球和火星及其前驱星体；(4)高度亲铁元素的同位素稀释测量，(5)分析法医材料(包括历史上的中毒案例和核材料)、恐龙骨骼、新的药物材料(包括药物输送系统)、超导体和下一代电池，(6)追踪地球地幔氧化还原状态的演变，(7)对火山爆炸性的控制，行星大气的产生和演变，以及行星内部的挥发性物质的储存和运输，以及(8)色谱柱校准和提高高精度同位素测量的产量。这一奖项反映了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，认为值得支持。

This award will fund the refurbishment/upgrade of a 21-year-old Thermo Element 2 ICP-MS instrument in the Plasma Laboratory in the Department of Geology, University of Maryland. It will also fund the acquisition of a laser ablation system (LA). The system upgrade will include replacement of the software and some electronic and vacuum components, making the system compatible with modern versions of the same instrument and thus serviceable. This instrument upgrade in combination with the new laser ablation system will continue the 21-year record of research and education in the Plasma Laboratory. This support will permit the laboratory to continue to address current NSF-sponsored research, as well as serve future research and educational needs. This laboratory has, and will maintain, a rich and diverse portfolio of research programs with these instruments that covers topics spanning from the Earth’s core and mantle to the crust, surface processes, and ocean-atmospheric interactions. Over its 21-year history, the Plasma Laboratory has employed and supervised 38 undergraduate research assistants, provided hands-on experience acquiring geochemical data for 28 senior thesis research projects, and has been a teaching facility used to train students (~53 graduate, ~63 undergraduate, 6 high school) and numerous post-docs on analytical methods. A number of these users have gone on to establish and run their own research laboratories. The laboratory contributions to fundamental knowledge, and those of our “offspring” scientists, have significantly enhanced society’s base of fundamental and applied knowledge of geological and non-geological processes.This facility we will be critical to the analysis of samples used to understand: (1) the compositional nature and origin of the bulk silicate Earth, core, continental crust, and modern mantle, (2) tracing fluid-rock interactions during metamorphism and estimating pressure-temperature-time conditions during metamorphism, (3) volatile cycling on planets and planetesimals, including the Earth, Moon and Mars and their precursor planetesimals, (4) isotope dilution measurements of highly siderophile elements, (5) analysis of forensic materials (including historic poisoning cases and nuclear materials), dinosaur bones, new pharmaceutical materials (including drug delivery systems), superconductors, and next generation batteries, (6) tracing the evolution of the redox state of the Earth’s mantle, (7) controls on volcano explosivity, the generation and evolution of planetary atmospheres, and the storage and transport of volatiles in planetary interiors, and (8) chromatographic column calibrations and improving yields for high-precision isotopic measurements.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.