MRI Acquisition: An ICP-MS Facility at the University of Utah

该奖项是根据2009年《美国复苏和再投资法案》(公法111-5)提供资金的。该项目的目标是创建一种电感耦合等离子体质谱(ICP-MS)设备，能够研究气体和液体溶液、胶体、矿物、化石、凝胶和组织的痕量元素含量和同位素比率。有待初步解决的研究领域是：1)碳酸盐作为环境和古环境变化的记录；2)水系中的胶体迁移和微量元素循环；3)考古和地质物质的年代测定；4)地质力引起的地球变化；5)碳酸盐、毛发和有机物质的来源研究；6)组织和化石中的元素分布；7)岩浆、火成岩和变质岩和矿床的起源和演化；8)用于地层层序研究的火山灰对比。该设施将拥有：1)多收集器电感耦合等离子体质谱仪；2)碰撞池四极电感耦合等离子体质谱仪；3)激光烧蚀采样系统；4)用于引入液体/气体样品的外围设备；以及5)用于湿化学和样品处理的干净实验室空间。化学元素通过地质、生物和人类学过程在地球上移动。即使其中一些元素的浓度很小(十亿分之几)，它们也可以对生态系统和生物体产生至关重要的影响，成为有益或有害的成分。此外，这些微量元素在沉积物或岩石中的浓度变化可能与其形成过程中发生的地质、环境和气候变化有关。对于化石来说，元素变化也可以揭示饮食的变化，对于组织来说，也可以阐明生理机制。最后，这些具有放射性的痕量元素可以用来获得地质年龄。当与激光相结合时，电感耦合等离子体质谱仪可以直接检测固体、凝胶或组织中的这些微量物质，而不需要费力的化学程序。利用该设施完成的研究将有助于解决区域和国家技术问题，特别是在环境可持续性、法医学、能源和矿产资源以及先进材料领域。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). The goal of this project is to create an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) facility with capabilities to study trace elemental content and isotopic ratios for gaseous and liquid solutions, colloids, minerals, fossils, gels and tissue. Research areas to be initially addressed are: 1) carbonates as records of environmental and paleoenvironmental change; 2) colloid transport and trace elements cycling in aquatic systems; 3) dating of archeological and geological material; 4) earth transformations caused by geological forces; 5) provenance studies of carbonates, hair and organic materials; 6) elemental distribution in tissues and fossils; 7) origin and evolution of magmas, igneous and metamorphic rocks and ore deposits; and 8) correlations of volcanic ashes for the study of stratigraphic sequences. The facility will have: 1) a multicollector ICP-MS; 2) a collision cell quadrupole ICP-MS; 3) a laser ablation sampling system; 4) peripheral equipment for introducing liquid/gas samples; and 5) clean lab space for wet chemistry and sample handling.Chemical elements move around the Earth via geological, biological and anthropological processes. Even when the concentration for some of these elements is tiny (a few parts per billion), they can impact ecosystems and organisms in crucial ways as beneficial or damaging components. In addition, the concentration changes of these trace elements through sediments or rocks can be related to the geological, environmental and climatic variations that occurred during their formation. In the case of fossils, elemental variation can also reveal diet changes and in the case of tissue, elucidate physiological mechanisms. Finally, those trace elements that are radioactive can be used to obtain geological ages. When coupled with a laser, ICP-MS can directly detect these minute amounts in solids, gels or tissue without laborious chemical procedures. The research achieved using the facility will contribute to solutions to regional and national technological problems, specifically in the fields of environmental sustainability, forensics, energy and mineral resources, and advanced materials.