Upgrade of a Stable Isotope Mass Spectrometer by the Addition of an Automated Carbonate Preparation Device

这笔拨款为购买一台自动碳酸盐制备装置提供了部分支持，该装置将连接到亚利桑那大学的气体比质谱仪上。该仪器将为亚利桑那大学的一大群研究人员自动化小碳酸盐样品的稳定同位素分析。该仪器在地球科学系的主要用户将是David Dettman， Andrew Cohen， Jay Quade和Karl Flessa。预计来自树木年轮实验室、可再生自然资源部门、生态和进化生物部门的研究人员将利用该设施。它也将提供给其他机构的教员；计划中的合作工作包括来自亚利桑那州立大学、加州科学院和弗吉尼亚理工大学的研究人员，古气候研究和古生态学是该仪器将应用的主要工作重点。自动化碳酸盐制备单元针对处理大量非常小的样品（大约10微克CaCO3）进行了优化。该部门目前正在进行的许多研究都需要这些能力。一个例子是利用贝壳微样生长带同位素组成的季节变化来推断水文和气候的变化。类似的研究正在利用介形虫（一种微型甲壳类动物）的整个外壳进行。除了使用这些方法进行古气候研究外，目前在土壤地球化学、古湖泊学、落基山脉和喜马拉雅山脉的隆起史、冰川学和经济地质学等领域的研究也将使用该仪器。它将大大提高所有研究人员利用碳酸盐同位素地球化学的产量和效率，因为它消除了手工制备碳酸盐样品所涉及的劳动，或者消除了样品送往其他实验室处理时的长时间周转时间。碳酸盐单元将连接到目前未充分利用的质谱仪，大大提高了这一有价值的分析仪器的生产率。* * *

9905887DettmanThis grant provides partials support for the acquistion of an automated carbonate preparation unit to be attached to a gas ratio mass spectrometer at the University of Arizona. This instrument will automate the stable isotope analysis of small carbonate samples for a large group of researchers at the University of Arizona. The primary users of this instrument within the Geosciences Department will be David Dettman, Andrew Cohen, Jay Quade and Karl Flessa. It is expected that researchers from the Tree Ring Laboratory, the Renewable Natural Resources Department, and the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department will make use of this facility. It will also be made available to faculty at other institutions; planned cooperative work includes researchers from Arizona State University, the California Academy of Sciences, and Virginia Tech.Paleoclimate studies and paleo-ecology are the primary focus of the work to which this instrument will be applied. The automated carbonate preparation unit is optimized for the processing of large numbers of very small samples (on the order of 10 micrograms of CaCO3). These capabilities are needed for a number of lines of research currently underway in this department. An example is the use of seasonal changes in the isotopic composition of micro-sampled growth bands in shells to infer changes in hydrology and climate. Similar studies are underway utilizing whole shells of ostracodes, a micro-crustacean. In addition to paleoclimate studies using these methods, current research in soil geochemistry, paleolimnology, uplift histories of the Rockies and the Himalaya, glaciology, and economic geology will make use of this instrument. It will greatly improve the output and efficiency of all researchers making use of carbonate isotope geochemistry by eliminating the labor involved in manually preparing carbonate samples or by eliminating long turn-around times when samples are sent to other labs for processing. The carbonate unit will be attached to a currently underutilized mass spectrometer, greatly increasing the productivity of this valuable analytical instrument. ***