Ion Micro-Probe Facility (IMF)

能够在非常精细的尺度上精确和准确地测量材料的化学和同位素组成，精确到千分之几米，对于了解和评估地球和地球系统环境过程的整个光谱，从而找到解决或管理由此产生的社会问题的方法至关重要。这种能力--定量的微量分析--是现代地球系统科学的核心。地球上发生的过程往往决定着元素和同位素比率的特定行为。对矿物、玻璃、有机遗骸和骨骼材料中出现的极低丰度的这些敏感元素的精确测定，使地球科学家能够研究不同时间尺度上的过程的影响。目前的应用包括，例如，评估矿物和矿床形成的条件，重建过去火山喷发的演化以限制未来的危害，确定海水表面温度随时间的波动及其与全球气候变化的关系，甚至监测洞穴沉积的长期气候变化。对稳定和辐射成因的同位素进行准确和精确的测量，进一步使地球科学家能够测量与全球气候变化相关的海洋酸化，量化从地表到地幔最深的各种重要地球过程中涉及的流体的数量和类型，并确定在低温和高温下形成的古代和现代岩石和矿物的年龄。这项建议是为了继续为英国科学界提供支持，建立一个世界级的实验室，使英国能够在地球材料的定量微观分析方面出类拔萃，并探索对地球、环境及其人口产生影响的基本问题：爱丁堡离子微探测器设施。

The ability to precisely and accurately measure the chemical and isotopic compositions of materials on very fine scales, down to only a few thousanths of a metre, is critical for understanding and evaluating the whole spectrum of Earth and environmental earth system processes, and hence finding ways to solve or manage the societal issues that arise from them. This ability - quantitative microanalysis - is central to modern Earth System Science.Processes that occur on Earth often dictate particular behaviours in elements and isotope ratios. Precise determinations of these sensitive elements that occur in very, to extremely, low abundances in minerals, glasses, organic remains and skeletal materials allow geoscientists to investigate the effects of processes on different timescales. Current applications include, for example, evaluating the conditions of mineral and ore deposit formation, reconstructing the evolution of past volcanic eruptions in order to constrain future hazard, determining fluctuations in seawater surface temperatures over time and their relationships with global climate change, and even monitoring of long-term climatic variations from cave deposits.Accurate and precise isotopic measurements of stable and radiogenic isotopes further enable geoscientists to measure ocean acidification associated with global climate change, quantify the amounts and types of sources for fluids involved in a large variety of important earth processes from the surface to the deepest mantle, and determine the ages of ancient and recent rocks and minerals formed at both low- and high-temperatures.This proposal is to provide continued UK science community support for a world-class laboratory that enables the UK to excel in the quantitative microanalysis of Earth materials, and explore fundamental questions that have consequences for the planet, the environment and its population: the Edinburgh Ion Microprobe Facility.