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

该合同将资助翻新/升级马里兰大学地质学系等离子体实验室一台已有21年历史的Thermo Element 2 ICP-MS仪器。它还将为激光烧蚀系统（LA）的采购提供资金。系统升级将包括更换软件和一些电子和真空组件，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烧蚀系统相结合，将继续等离子实验室21年来的研究和教育记录。这种支持将允许实验室继续解决当前nsf资助的研究，以及服务于未来的研究和教育需求。该实验室拥有并将继续拥有丰富多样的研究项目组合，这些研究项目涵盖了从地核、地幔到地壳、表面过程和海洋-大气相互作用等主题。在其21年的历史中，等离子实验室已雇用并指导了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，并已成为一个教学设施，用于培养学生（约53名研究生，约63名本科生，6名高中）和许多分析方法的博士后。其中一些用户已经建立并经营了自己的研究实验室。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知识和应用知识的基础。本设施我们将对关键样品进行分析，用以了解：(1)块状硅酸盐地球、地核、大陆地壳和现代地幔的组成性质和起源；(2)追踪变质过程中的流体-岩石相互作用并估计变质过程中的压力-温度-时间条件；(3)行星和星子的挥发循环，包括地球、月球和火星及其前体星子；(4)高亲铁元素的同位素稀释测量；(5)法医材料（包括历史中毒案件和核材料）、恐龙骨骼、新型医药材料（包括药物输送系统）、超导体和下一代电池的分析；(6)追踪地球地幔氧化还原状态的演变；(7)火山爆炸的控制、行星大气的产生和演变以及行星内部挥发物的储存和运输。(8)色谱柱校准和提高高精度同位素测量的收率。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，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 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.