Replacement of an obsolete laser particle size analyzer for multidisciplinary geoscience research

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This proposal seeks to support several NSERC-funded geoscience research programs and training activities at the Institut des sciences de la mer de Rimouski (ISMER) and the Département de biologie, chimie et géographie (DBCG) of the Université du Québec à Rimouski (UQAR) through the replacement of our existing obsolete laser particle size analyzer. This system was used extensively over the past 15 years in the research programs of 20 researchers from UQAR-ISMER and its collaborators, cumulating over 10,000 hours of use (~40,000 analyzed samples). Over 200 highly qualified personal (HQP) were trained for the utilization of this instrument. In addition, results from our current instrument were included in more than 100 peer-reviewed publications during the past 11 years. However, this instrument now shows signs of advanced ware and parts frequently need to be replaced, causing delays in our research programs. Funds are thus requested for the acquisition of a new state-of-the-art laser particle size analyzer to perform fast and quantitative grain-size analyses on a wide range of material. The requested equipment is a Malvern Panalytical Mastersizer 3000 laser diffraction particle size analyzer. This system allows analyzing grain size distribution on a large number of samples (~48 samples/day) in a broader measurement range (0.01-3500 µm compared to our current range of 0.04-2000 µm). This essential laser diffraction particle size analyzer will be located in the marine geology laboratory at UQAR-ISMER. It will directly support 1 Tier I Canada Research Chair in Marine Geology and 3 NSERC-funded multidisciplinary geoscience research programs where grain size is the most fundamental analysis to: characterize the spatial pattern of grain-size distribution in seabed sediments from the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, document long-term changes in the calving activity of outlet glaciers on Baffin and Ellesmere Islands, provide novel sedimentological data to document seismic activity in eastern Canada and the Southern Hemisphere, and relate microhabitats to community structure and ecosystem functioning. The requested instrument is thus capital for accomplishing not only the multidisciplinary research programs described above, but also for the research of 16 HQP involved in these different research programs. Additionally, this infrastructure will reinforce the training of students with hands-on laboratory experiments as part of the recently submitted MaRIn NSERC CREATE training program, as well as during the laboratory activities of undergraduate and graduate courses from ISMER and UQAR. Finally, this equipment will also help UQAR-ISMER and Canada to consolidate their participation in national (ArcticNet, Odyssée Saint-Laurent) and international (ArcTrain, International Ocean Discovery Program-IODP, International Continental Scientific Drilling Program-ICDP) scientific research programs where grain size analysis is routinely used to characterize the sediments.