Acquisition of a Laser Diffraction Particle Size Analyzer for Research in Sedimentology and Biogeochemistry

该资助为北卡罗莱纳州立大学海洋、地球和大气科学系（MEAS）购置激光衍射粒度分析仪提供支持。将获得贝克曼库尔特激光衍射仪，该激光衍射仪具有快速和可重复地测定砂到粘土级馏分悬浮液中的粒度分布的能力。一个由五名pi和他们的学生组成的小组将使用激光衍射仪进行粒度分析，以支持沉积学、碳循环、海洋地层学、动物-沉积物相互作用、水文学和地球化学等一系列研究。海洋和湖泊沉积物和土壤提供了过去环境条件的记录，是全球碳循环的重要储层，是从细菌到大型动物的各种生命形式的宿主，其生物地球化学活动控制着自然发生和人为产生的有机和无机物种的命运和运输。粒度分布可以揭示大量的输运过程，当与其他地球化学指标相结合时，可以提供对物源、古环境条件和成岩过程的认识。激光衍射仪将为NCSU的本科生和研究生提供更好的教育机会。北卡州立大学的师生生物地球化学和古环境研究对理解和应对全球气候变化以及污染物修复具有重要意义。

This grant provides support for the acquisition of a laser diffraction particle size analyzer for the Department of Marine, Earth, and Atmospheric Sciences (MEAS) at North Carolina State University. A Beckman Coulter laser diffractometer with the capability for rapid and repeatable determination of grain size distributions in suspensions of sand to clay sized fractions will be acquired. A group of five PIs and their students will use the laser diffractometer for grain size analysis in support of a range of research in sedimentology, carbon cycling, marine stratigraphy, animal-sediment interactions, hydrology and geochemistry. Marine and lacustrine sediments and soils provide a record of past environmental conditions, are important reservoirs in the global carbon cycle, and host a great variety of life forms from bacteria to macrofauna, whose biogeochemical activity controls the fate and transport of naturally occurring and anthropogenic organic and inorganic species. Grain size distributions can reveal a great deal about transport processes and when coupled with other geochemical proxies, provide insight to provenance, paleoenvironmental conditions and diagenetic processes. The laser diffractometer will support improved educational opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students at NCSU. Faculty and student biogeochemical and paleoenvironmental research at NCSU has implications for understanding and reacting to global climate change and for pollutant remediation.