MRI: Acquisition of 40Ar/39Ar Facilities at NM Tech

新墨西哥技术公司将分别购买和建造新一代惰性气体质谱仪和气体萃取系统。惰性气体系统的技术已经停滞了大约25年，但是最近质谱技术的进步已经在地球年代学界以及地球科学领域引起了特别的兴奋。每一项技术进步都能在越来越精细的尺度上以更高的精度和准确度调查时间和速率过程，从而在理解主要的地球过程方面产生重大飞跃。有了NSF的新支持，NM Tech完全有能力参与这一前进的进程。新墨西哥理工大学将继续大力支持地质年代学的研究生和本科生研究，并将继续其开放政策，为NM Tech以外的广泛的学生和合作者提供最先进的数据和专业知识。通过一系列用户发展协同作用，并通过NSF赞助的设施（如EARTHTIME和EARTHSCOPE）实现社区范围内的地质年代学进步，将继续是NM Tech的优先事项，并将占据一个这是新仪器的重要组成部分。

This award to New Mexico Tech will allow purchase and construction of a new generation noble gas mass spectrometer and gas extraction system, respectively. Technology for noble gas systems has remained stagnant for ~25 years, but very recently advances in mass spectrometry have stimulated specific excitement in the geochronological community as well as the earth sciences in general. Each technological advance that allows investigation of time and rate processes with elevated precision and accuracy at finer and finer scale yields a significant leap forward in understanding major earth processes. With this new NSF support, NM Tech is fully equipped to participate in this forward progress. New Mexico Tech will continue strong support for graduate and undergraduate research in geochronology and will also continue it's open-door policies to provide state-of-the-art data and expertise to a wide spectrum of students and collaborators from outside NM Tech. Developing synergy through a range of users and fulfilling community-wide advancement of geochronological sciences through NSF sponsored facilities such as EARTHTIME and EARTHSCOPE will remain a priority for NM Tech and will occupy a significant part of the effort for the new instrumentation.