MRI: Acquisition of Instrumentation for Sediment Description, SIO Geological Core Repository

斯克里普斯海洋研究所(SIO)地质库是美国最大的海洋地质库之一，为研究界提供获取深海样品和沉积分析工具的途径。该项目将支持SIO地质采集部购买一台Avaatech Core扫描仪，该扫描仪可产生深海样品的非破坏性化学信息。作为研究过程的第一步，该扫描仪廉价地提供了关于沉积物年龄和沉积物岩芯的气候意义的快速信息。岩心扫描仪将使储存库工作人员能够将数据分发给研究人员，帮助他们从SIO地质集合中的数千个岩芯中获得最大价值。此外，研究人员将能够对他们自己的岩芯进行扫描，使研究人员能够确定将他们的研究重点放在哪里。Avaatech XRF岩心扫描仪产生的地球化学数据将帮助大学生了解从气候和生态系统的历史记录到深海沉积记录中保存的考古和构造历史的一切。X射线荧光成像是SIO地质收集库向国际研究界提供的最常被要求的服务。Aavatech岩心扫描仪将显著改进对SIO采集的海洋沉积物岩心的数据收集。该仪器提供的新数据集包括磁化率、紫外线成像和偏离岩心长轴角度的z轴X射线荧光扫描。同时处理三个核心的能力将显著提高吞吐量。SIO地质库的用户群包括气候研究、沉积学、构造学、地球科学教育、海洋考古学和保护生物学的研究人员。该仪器促成的研究项目之一是从海洋沉积物岩芯研究南极冰盖历史和南大洋动力学。另一个得到资助的项目利用在JOIDES第100号决议巡航期间收集的样本，调查南极绕极洋流北缘的海洋学变化和南美洲大陆的气候变化。美国地质调查局的研究人员提议使用Aavatech核心扫描仪来分析加州海岸和加利福尼亚州湖泊中早于历史记录的地震记录。湖泊记录也将被用来重建加州过去10万年来的干旱、洪水和火灾。XRF数据还将通过定位年代上重要的特征，如可用于Tephra年代学的过时火山灰，来揭示地中海沉积岩芯的环境历史。最后，该工具将用于广泛的公共宣传、高中和大学水平的教育旅行、模块和学生研究项目。例如，Aavatech仪器将成为正在进行的GeoPath培训项目的中心工具。SIO GeoPath计划利用海上经验，向来自不同背景的本科生介绍地球科学研究的整个周期，从邮轮规划到SIO关于收集材料的邮轮后工作。新的仪器将保持SIO地质收藏不仅是西海岸首屈一指的海洋地质样本档案，也是海洋地质和环境研究的教育中心。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，被认为值得支持。

The Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) Geological Collections is one of the largest marine geological repositories in the US and provides the research community access to deep sea samples as well as tools for sedimentary analysis. The project will support the SIO Geological Collections to buy an Avaatech Core scanner that produces non-destructive chemical information of deep sea samples. The scanner inexpensively provides rapid information on sediment age and the climatological significance of sediment cores as a first step in the research process. The Core Scanner will enable repository staff to distribute data to researchers that will help them get the most value from the thousands of cores in the SIO Geological Collections. In addition, researchers will be able to have their own cores scanned, allowing investigators to determine where to focus their research attention. Geochemical data produced by the Avaatech XRF core scanner will help university students understand everything from the historical record of climate and ecosystems to the archaeological and tectonic history preserved in the deep-sea sedimentary record. X-ray Fluorescence imaging is the most frequently requested service to the international research community that is provided by the SIO Geological Collections repository. The Aavatech Core Scanner will significantly improve data collection on marine sediment cores held in the SIO collection. New data sets provided by the instrument include magnetic susceptibility, UV imaging, and z-axis x-ray florescence scanning at angles off the long axis of a core. The capability to process three cores at once will enhance throughput significantly. The user-base for the SIO Geological Collections includes researchers in climate research, sedimentology, tectonics, geoscience education, marine archaeology, and conservation biology. One of the research projects enabled by this instrument is a study of Antarctic Ice Sheet history and Southern Ocean dynamics from marine sediment cores. Another funded project investigates oceanographic changes at the northern margin of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current and climate variability on the South American continent using samples collected during a JOIDES Resolution 100 Cruise. Researchers at the US Geological Survey propose to use the Aavatech Core Scanner to analyze records of earthquakes predating the historic record in Coastal California and California lakes. Lake records will also be used to reconstruct past droughts, floods, and fire in California over the past 100,000 years. XRF data will also reveal the environmental history of Mediterranean sediment cores by locating chronologically-important features like dated volcanic ashes that can be used in tephra chronology. Finally, the instrument will be used in a wide variety of public outreach, high school, and university-level education tours, modules and student research projects. For instance, the Aavatech instrument will be a central tool for an on-going GeoPaths training project. The SIO GeoPaths program uses at-sea experiences to introduce undergraduates from diverse backgrounds to the whole cycle of geoscience research, ranging from cruise planning to post-cruise work at SIO on the collected material. The new instrument will maintain the SIO Geological Collection as not only a premier West Coast archive of marine geological samples, but also as education center for marine geology and environmental research.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.