Equipment: MRI Track 1: Acquisition of a Laser Ablation Time of Flight Inductively-Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer for UCSB Researchers and Educators

该主要研究仪器（MRI）奖支持为加州大学圣巴巴拉分校（UCSB）的研究和教学提供集成激光烧蚀飞行时间电感耦合等离子体质谱计（LA-TOF-ICP-MS）系统。该仪器将有助于14名UCSB教师和研究人员，他们的学生和合作者的调查。它还将为加州和全球其他地方的广泛研究人员和学生提供访问权限。该系统的新分析能力将提高地球科学及相关领域本科生的学习和教学质量，为本科生和研究生的研究项目提供新的机会，并为创建新颖而引人入胜的分析地球化学课程奠定基础。该奖项的pi积极参与地球化学学会的能力建设资助计划，以及美国国家科学基金会资助的“推进地球年代学，空间和系统”（AGeS3），该计划为未被充分代表的学生和发展中国家的科学家提供研究机会。LA-TOF-ICP-MS系统能够在微米尺度上以最少的样品制备对地质和生物材料中的元素和同位素变化进行快速三维成像。该系统的关键功能包括能够在不到30微秒的时间内扫描从钠到铀的整个质谱，以及以高达每秒1000像素的检测速率在百万分之一范围内进行定量图像的常规生产。具体的研究目标包括：1)确定复杂分带矿物的年代，以了解一系列岩浆、变质、沉积和构造过程；2)表征碳酸盐中U的复杂分布，以获得更好的U- pb年龄；3)从碳酸盐岩中提取详细的古气候代用记录。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 Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) award supports the acquisition of an integrated Laser Ablation Time Of Flight Inductively-Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer (LA-TOF-ICP-MS) system for research and teaching at the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB). This instrumentation will facilitate the investigations of fourteen UCSB faculty and researchers, their students, and collaborators. It will also enable access for a broad range of researchers and students elsewhere in California and globally. The new analytical capabilities of this system will improve the quality of undergraduate learning and instruction in earth science and allied fields, provide new opportunities s for undergraduate and graduate research projects, and form the basis for the creation of novel and engaging analytical geochemistry coursework. The PIs on this award actively participate in the Geochemical Society’s capacity-building grants program, and the NSF-funded ‘Advancing Geochronology Science, Spaces, and Systems’ (AGeS3), which fund research opportunities for underrepresented students as well as scientists from developing countries.The LA-TOF-ICP-MS system enables rapid three-dimensional imaging of elemental and isotopic variations in geological and biological materials at the micron scale with minimal sample preparation. Key capabilities of this system include the ability to scan the entire mass spectrum from sodium to uranium in less than 30 microseconds, and the routine production of quantitative images at a rate of up to 1000 pixels per second at detection limits in the parts-per-million range. Specific research objectives include: 1) dating complexly zoned minerals to understand a range of magmatic, metamorphic, sedimentary, and tectonic processes, 2) characterizing the often-complex distribution of U in carbonates to obtain better U-Pb ages, and; 3) retrieving detailed paleoclimate proxy records from carbonates.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.