Acquisition of an Inductively Coupled Plasma - Optical Emission Spectrometer for Geological and Environmental Applications

该项目将资助迈阿密大学地质系购置一台电感耦合等离子体-光发射光谱仪。新工具将支持和加强该部的现有优势。 在过去的15年中，地质系已经采取行动，进一步加强地球化学作为其研究和教学工作的主要重点，正因为如此，对可靠，高质量的地球化学数据的常规采集的需求继续增长。新的ICP-OES将成为常规分析地球化学教学和研究的核心，需要对各种基质（包括岩石，矿物，土壤和天然沃茨）中的主要，次要和痕量元素进行精确的定量分析。 八个地质学教师/工作人员PI和相关的学生研究小组及其合作者最初将利用ICP-OES来解决假说和阐明火成岩成因问题，包括地幔-地壳相互作用和演化，火山灰年代学和人类进化的环境背景，超干旱气候中的成壤作用和对气候变化的影响，极端地质环境中的地质微生物过程，微生物-水-矿物相互作用，地下水和酸性矿井排水中重金属污染的补救，以及应用于核废料储存的晶体化学调查。新的ICP-OES和相关的地球化学实验室将用于培训本科生、研究生和博士后研究人员，使其掌握地质和环境样品制备、实验设计和分析实验室设备的使用等现代方面的知识。此外，妇女包括超过50%的地球化学研究，涉及学生。此外，PI哈特和Widom目前监督一个联合研究小组，其中包括六名女研究生和两名女本科生，以及一名非洲裔美国学生。

This project will fund the acquisition of an Inductively Coupled Plasma - Optical Emission Spectrometer (ICP-OES) for the Miami University Department of Geology. The new instrument will support and enhance existing strengths of the department. Over the past 15 years the Department of Geology has moved to further enhance geochemistry as a prime focus of its research and teaching efforts, and because of this, the need for routine acquisition of reliable, high quality geochemical data continues to grow. The new ICP-OES will become the centerpiece for routine analytical geochemistry teaching and research where precise quantitative analysis of major, minor, and trace elements in a variety of matrices including rocks, minerals, soils, and natural waters is required. Eight geology faculty/staff PIs and associated student research groups and their collaborators initially will utilize the ICP-OES to address hypotheses and elucidate problems in igneous petrogenesis including mantle-crust interactions and evolution, tephrochronology and the environmental context for human evolution, pedogenesis in hyperarid climates and implications for climate change, geomicrobial processes in extreme geological environments, microbe-water-mineral interactions, remediation of heavy metal pollution in groundwater and acid mine drainage, and crystal chemical investigations applied to nuclear waste storage. The new ICP-OES and associated geochemical laboratories will serve to train undergraduate and graduate students and post-doctoral researchers in modern aspects of geological and environmental sample preparation, experimental design, and the use of analytical laboratory equipment. Additionally, women comprised over 50% of our geochemistry research that involved students. Moreover, PIs Hart and Widom currently oversee a combined research group that includes six female graduate and two female undergraduate students, and one African-American student.