Research in the Earth Sciences Using Accelerator Mass Spectrometry at Purdue University

该奖项为在普渡大学现有FN串联加速器的基础上建立加速器质谱学(AMS)研究中心的运营和设备升级费用提供资金支持。该设施的建立和运营将是一个合资企业，涉及普渡大学物理系、地球科学系、大气科学系和化学系的教职员工和技术人员。AMS设施旨在满足美国全国地球科学研究界的分析需求。加速器质谱仪为检测和定量测量非常小的物质样品中的非常小的同位素浓度提供了独特的灵敏度能力。到目前为止，AMS已被证明在追踪俯冲沉积物和地下水的质量转移以及地质和考古样品的年代方面特别有用。到目前为止，这种应用中最有用的同位素是碳-14、氯-36、铍-10和铝-26。普渡设施将集中对各种地质样品中的这些同位素进行测量，并致力于技术开发工作，目的是提高这些和其他可能对地球科学感兴趣的同位素的检测下限和精度。

This award provides funding support for the operation and equipment upgrade costs of setting up a research center for accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) based on an existing FN tandem accelerator at Purdue University. Establishment and operation of the facility will be a joint venture involving faculty and technical personnel from a combination of the departments of physics, earth and atmospheric sciences, and chemistry at Purdue. The AMS facility is intended to service the analytical needs of the U.S. geosciences research community nationwide. Accelerator mass spectrometry provides unique sensitivity capabilities for the detection and quantitative measure of very small concentrations of isotopes in very small samples of matter. To date AMS has proven particularly useful for tracking the mass transfer of subducted sediments and groundwater and for dating geological and archeological samples. The most useful isotopes in such applications so far have been carbon-14, chlorine-36, beryllium-10, and aluminum-26. The Purdue facility will concentrate on measurements of these isotopes in a variety of geological samples and in technique development efforts aimed at improving detection limits and precision for these and additional isotopes of potential interest in the geosciences.