Acquisition of Ion Chromatograph for Fluorine Relative Dating of Quaternary Fossil Bone

0317279麦克法兰这笔赠款支持购买一台离子色谱仪(IC)，用于西印度群岛第四纪哺乳动物进化和灭绝的古生物学研究中骨骼磷灰石的氟相对测年(FRD)。FRD技术是基于骨羟基磷灰石不可逆地从地下水中获取氟的原理，因此化石骨中测得的氟与磷的比例是时间相关的。与使用独立技术测量化石骨中的卤素和营养物质浓度相比，IC可以同时直接测量骨骼样品中的氟和磷浓度，从而实现更高的效率和更精确的FRD。FRD技术将允许对化石骨骼遗骸进行快速和廉价的初步相对测年，在许多情况下，稍后将通过放射性碳技术更严格地确定年代。该中心将支持分析化学技术在斯克里普斯学院的现代古生物学研究中的实践，斯克里普斯学院是一所女子本科院校。

0317279McFarlaneThis grant supports the acquisition of an ion chromatograph (IC) to be used for fluorine relative dating (FRD) of skeletal apatite in paleobiological investigations of Quaternary mammalian evolution and extinction in the West Indies. The FRD technique is based on the principle that bone hydroxyapatite irreversibly acquires fluorine from groundwater so that the ratio of measured fluoride to phosphate concentrations in fossil bone is time dependent. An IC can be used to directly measure both fluoride and phosphorus concentrations in bone samples simultaneously allowing for higher efficiency and more precise FRD of bone sample than can be done using independent techniques to measure for halogen and nutrient concentrations in fossil bone. The FRD technique will allow for rapid and inexpensive preliminary relative dating of fossil skeletal remains that in many cases will later be more rigorously dated via radiocarbon techniques. The IC will support hands-on undergraduate involvement in analytical chemistry techniques as applied to modern research in paleobiology at Scripps College, a women's undergraduate institution.***