MRI: Acquisition of a Stable Carbon Isotope Analyzer at Montana Tech

这项NSF奖励支持蒙大拿技术公司购买碳稳定同位素分析仪，这将使研究人员能够继续和扩大他们在影响河流、湖泊、地下水和地热水以及含碳岩石和矿物的生物地球化学过程领域的研究和监测工作。一般来说，环境同位素的使用提供了一种工具，帮助研究人员解释和理解自然系统中的过程。特别是碳稳定同位素，提供了一种独特的方法来“指纹”各种环境区隔中的碳源（例如，植物的光合途径，生物源、地质源和大气源），还可用于帮助量化在一系列尺度上影响生态系统变化的过程的速率（例如，有氧呼吸和厌氧呼吸、光合作用等）。将使用该仪器研究的主题范围很广，包括通过碳同位素组成变化在流域尺度上跟踪气候变化的影响；通过地表水和地下水系统对碳处理过程的变化进行量化；调查饮用水中溶解有机碳（DOC）的来源；确定岩石或矿化脉中碳酸盐矿物的来源；确定天然气储层中甲烷的生物与非生物来源以及与二氧化碳封存相关的水岩相互作用。该设备将：1)扩大蒙大拿理工学院、蒙大拿矿业和地质局（MBMG）以及蒙大拿大学系统（MUS）合作研究人员的调查能力；2)促进水生和陆地环境科学一般领域的纯粹和应用研究，该校园是EPSCoR州的非博士学位授予机构；3)提供一个相对易于使用的教育工具，将整合到蒙大拿理工大学的新课程和现有课程中；4)为多名研究生和本科生提供稳定同位素分析理论与应用的研究机会和技术培训；5)促进与MBMG的合作，以更好地评价蒙大拿州地下水和地表水的生物地球化学过程；6)促进蒙大拿理工学院和蒙大拿其他单位的研究人员之间的跨学科合作，这是最近蒙大拿NSF-EPSCoR奖的一个重要目标。

This NSF award supports the acquisition of a Carbon Stable Isotope Analyzer by Montana Tech, which will allow the investigators to continue and expand their research and monitoring efforts in the area of biogeochemical processes affecting rivers, lakes, groundwater and geothermal waters as well as carbon bearing rocks and minerals. The use of environmental isotopes, in general, provides a tool to help researchers interpret and understand processes in natural systems. Carbon stable isotopes, in particular, provide a unique way to "fingerprint" sources of carbon in various environmental compartments (e.g., photosynthetic pathway of plants, biologic vs. geologic vs. atmospheric sources), and can also be used to help quantify rates of processes that influence ecosystem changes over a range of scales (e.g., aerobic and anaerobic respiration, photosynthesis, etc). The range of topics that will be investigated using this instrument is extensive and includes tracking effects of climate change through carbon isotope composition changes on watershed scales; quantifying changes in the processing of carbon through surface and groundwater systems; investigating the sources of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in drinking water; determining the origins of carbonate minerals in rocks or mineralized veins; determining biotic vs. abiotic sources of methane in natural gas reservoirs; and water-rock interactions associated with CO2 sequestration. This equipment will: 1) expand the investigative capabilities of Montana Tech, the Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology (MBMG) and collaborating researchers across the Montana University System (MUS); 2) facilitate pure and applied research in the general area of aquatic and terrestrial environmental science at a campus that is a non-PhD-granting RUI institution in an EPSCoR state; 3) provide a relatively easy-to-use educational tool that will be integrated into new and existing courses at Montana Tech; 4) provide research opportunities and technical training for multiple graduate and undergraduate students on the theory and application of stable isotope analysis; 5) promote collaboration with the MBMG to better evaluate biogeochemical processes in groundwater and surface water in Montana; and 6) promote interdisciplinary collaboration between Montana Tech and researchers at other units of the MUS, an important objective of the recent Montana NSF-EPSCoR award.