MRI: Acquisition of a gamma-ray spectrometer for surface-process and ocean research

维护土壤对于维持世界上不断增长的人口至关重要。被侵蚀的表层沉积物也可能是一种主要污染物，通过光衰减和重金属污染而破坏世界各地的水生生态系统。这笔仪器赠款将通过测量吸附在沉积物上的天然产生的放射性同位素的衰变产物来增加沉积物的流动性研究。该工具将有助于为以下努力奠定基础：(1)创建新的数据集，(2)加强跨学科、协作研究的基础设施，以及(3)通过学生培训培养能够应对社会环境挑战的多样化劳动力。这笔赠款的教育影响包括通过加州大学圣地亚哥分校斯克里普斯海洋研究所的NSF资助的本科生研究体验计划，将该仪器纳入一门新课程和本科生研究项目。尘埃放射性核素的测量提供了测量地表过程速率的手段。具体地说，寿命短的铍核素7Be可以用来理解化学上类似的10Be放射性核素，这种放射性核素通常用于表面处理研究，但通常只能通过更昂贵的加速器质谱仪进行测量。通过获取堪培拉/Mirion U型低温恒温器小阳极锗(SAGE)井探测器系统来探测丰富的短寿命铍放射性核素(7Be)，将有助于研究宇宙成因的10Be的迁移率和有毒污染物9Be的吸附行为。这台仪器的收购将推动科学研究(其中一些已经由NSF资助)和创新，并促进研究低温地球化学、海洋地球科学、生态学、考古学和地球表面动力学的研究人员之间的跨学科合作。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Maintenance of soil is critically important for sustaining the world's growing population. Eroded surface sediment can also be a major pollutant degrading aquatic ecosystems worldwide through light attenuation and heavy-metal contamination. This instrumentation grant will add to sediment mobility research through the measurement of decay products from naturally produced radioactive isotopes adsorbed to sediment. This instrument will help build a foundation for efforts to (1) create new datasets, (2) enhance infrastructure for interdisciplinary, collaborative research, and (3) train a diverse workforce capable of tackling society's environmental challenges through student training. Education impacts of this grant include the incorporation of the instrument into a new course and undergraduate student research projects through the NSF-funded Research Experience for Undergraduates program at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego. Measurement of fallout radionuclides provide a means to measure rates of surficial processes. Specifically, the short-lived beryllium nuclide 7Be can be used to understand the chemically similar 10Be radionuclide commonly used in surface-process research but typically only measured by more expensive accelerator mass spectrometry. Detection of the abundant short-lived beryllium radionuclide (7Be) via acquisition of a Canberra/Mirion U-Style Cryostat Small Anode Germanium (SAGe) Well Detector System will facilitate research into the mobility of cosmogenic 10Be and the adsorption behavior of 9Be, which is a toxic pollutant. The acquisition of this instrument will drive scientific research (some already NSF-funded) and innovation and cultivate interdisciplinary collaborations among researchers studying low-temperature geochemistry, marine geoscience, ecology, archaeology, and Earth-surface dynamics.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.