Continued development and application of 40Ar/39Ar dating for archaeometric research

在美国国家科学基金会的支持下，Alan Deino和Paul Renne将开始一项为期三年的努力，以升级位于加州伯克利的伯克利地质年代学中心的40Ar/39Ar测年设备，以达到尽可能高的精度、准确性和产量水平，并在确定与考古有关的地质样品的年龄方面具有最广泛的能力。40Ar/39Ar定年法在考古和古人类研究中具有最广泛的适用性，是一种高度精确的定年工具，对古人类和类人猿进化的研究做出了广泛的贡献。虽然在某些方面是常规的，但不断发展的技术允许该方法的能力不断改进，特别是在测定更年轻、更小或更少钾的材料的年代时。这些改进扩大了可解决问题的范围，从而带来了巨大的科学红利。这笔拨款对于维持考古和古人类社区40Ar/39Ar定年的常规可用性以及推进BGC 40Ar/39Ar定年方法的能力至关重要。它将有助于维持对全球考古和古人类学研究的高质量40Ar/39Ar数据的常规访问，并继续改进40Ar/39Ar方法，以提高精度和准确性，特别是在适用性较低的端。最后，这笔拨款将提供更换或增加旧设备的机会，以保持高水平的生产力和科学卓越。为了在未来三年内实现这些目标，这笔资金将主要集中在三个方面：1)开发一种超清洁、高通量的萃取系统，该系统将与单独资助的新型多收集器惰性气体质谱仪相匹配；2)继续发展计算机控制系统和数据简化技术，以利用新的多收集器机器；3)对样品处理设备进行改造，提高样品制备效率。为了充分利用新型多收集器质谱仪预期的高度加速的数据收集速度，新一代以快速通量为特征的提取线将是必不可少的。在40Ar/39Ar测年社区中，新一代多收集器机器的需求使得内部计算机控制系统的进一步发展成为必要。样品制备的改进将使高质量样品的供应能够跟上分析通量的增加。

With National Science Foundation support, Drs. Alan Deino and Paul Renne will embark on a three-year effort to upgrade the 40Ar/39Ar dating facilities at the Berkeley Geochronology Center in Berkeley, California, in order to attain the highest possible levels of precision, accuracy and throughput, and the broadest range of capability in determining the age of geological samples related to archaeometry. The 40Ar/39Ar dating method has the broadest temporal range of applicability in archeological and paleoanthropological contexts, and is well established as a highly accurate and precise dating tool that has contributed widely to the study of hominid and hominoid evolution. Though routine in some regards, evolving technology permits continued improvements in the method's capabilities, particularly in dating younger, smaller, or less potassic materials. Such improvements pay large scientific dividends by expanding the scope of problems that can be solved.This grant will be vital both to maintaining routine availability of 40Ar/39Ar dating for the archeological and paleoanthropological communities, as well as to advance the capabilities of 40Ar/39Ar dating methods at BGC. It will help sustain routine access to high-quality 40Ar/39Ar data for archeological and paleoanthropological research worldwide and to continue refinement of 40Ar/39Ar methods to improve precision and accuracy, particularly at the younger end of applicability. Finally, this grant will provide the opportunity to replace or augment old equipment to maintain high levels of productivity and scientific excellence.In order to address these goals over the next three years, the grant will be focused primarily in three areas: 1) Development of an ultra clean, high-throughput extraction system that will be a suitable match to a separately funded, new multi-collector noble-gas mass spectrometer; 2) Continued development of the computer control systems and data reduction techniques necessary to utilize the new multi-collector machine; and 3) Modifications to sample processing facilities to improve efficiency of sample preparation. A new generation extraction line characterized by rapid throughput will be essential to take full advantage of the highly accelerated speed of data collection anticipated with the new multi-collector mass spectrometer. Further development of in-house computer control systems is necessitated by the requirements of a new generation of multi-collector machines that is now breaking on the 40Ar/39Ar dating community. Improvements in sample preparation will enable the supply of high-quality samples to keep pace with the increased analytical throughput.