Acquisition of a Rapid Sediment Analyzer

该合同支持购买细粒沉积物的快速沉积物分析系统。此次收购的机构贡献占系统成本的一半。该仪器采用激光衍射法原理，分析时间短。该仪器将用于支持与更新世和全新世期间古环境变化有关的研究工作。具体地说，南极大陆架的沉积物包含了过去数千年来古环境条件变化的非常高分辨率的记录。该仪器将用于研究与南极冰盖进退有关的冰海沉积的沉积物记录。这一工具是强大的本科生研究项目的一项资产，它也将使该地区的其他本科生机构受益。

This award supports acquisition of a rapid sediment analysis system for fine-grained sediments. The acquisition has an institutional contribution of one half of the system cost. The instrument being acquired operates on the principle of laser diffraction making analysis time very short. The instrument will be used to support research work that relates to paleoenvironmental change during the Pleistocene and Holocene. Specifically, sediments from the Antarctic continental shelf contain a very high resolution record of changing paleoenvironmental conditions over the last several thousand years. The instrument will be applied to studies of sediment records related to glacio-marine deposition which are related to advances and retreats of the Antarctic ice sheets. This instrument is an asset to a strong undergraduate research program and it will also benefit other undergraduate institutions in the region.