Acquisition of Capability for Single-Compound AMS Measurement of Organic Matter at the W.M. Keck Carbon Cycle Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Facility at UC Irvine

EAR-0447323Druffel该项目的目标是开发一种可用于从环境样品中分离单个有机化合物的制备型毛细管气相色谱仪(PCGC)。我们将开发使用加速器质谱仪(AMS)测量这些化合物中极少量(4微克碳)的放射性碳(14C)的技术。我们将使用现有的可用于测量小样本(15微克碳)的AMS。这笔赠款的资金将用于PCGC和高真空生产线，并支持一名全职博士后研究员和兼职技术人员。土壤、河流和海洋中有机物质的循环仍然是全球碳循环中的一个主要不确定性。测量单个有机化合物中的14C是研究陆地、水生和海洋有机质中碳的来源、保存和循环的重要工具。参与该项目的研究生将获得有机生物地球化学以及地球系统科学方面的强大背景。预计我们开发的技术将在整个环境生态学和生物地球化学领域得到广泛应用。

EAR-0447323DruffelThe goal of this project is the development of a preparative capillary gas chromatograph (PCGC) that can be used to separate individual organic compounds from environmental samples. We will develop techniques to measure the radiocarbon (14C) in very small amounts (4 micrograms carbon) of these compounds using accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS). We will use an existing AMS that is operable for measuring small samples (15 micrograms carbon). Funds from this grant will be used for the PCGC and high vacuum lines, and to support a full-time postdoctoral researcher and part-time technician. The cycling of organic matter in soils, rivers and oceans remains a major uncertainty in the global carbon cycle. Measurement of the 14C in individual organic compounds is an essential tool to study the sources, preservation and cycling of carbon in terrestrial, aquatic, and marine organic matter. The graduate students involved in this project will obtain a strong background in organic biogeochemistry, as well as earth system science. It is anticipated that the techniques that we develop will become widely used throughout the environmental ecology and biogeochemical community.