Acquisition of a 193 nm excimer laser ablation system and optical profiler for in situ (U-Th)/He and U-Pb geochronology and thermochronology at the University of Colorado Boulder

CU TRaIL（科罗拉多大学博尔德分校-热年代学研究和仪器实验室）的核心任务是促进创新，跨学科和高水平的研究，同时也为更广泛的地球科学界提供地质年代学数据和培训。该项目将获得三件仪器，将为CU TRaIL增加新的高空间分辨率能力。该设备将使实验室提供的服务多样化，扩大其为游客提供的机会，并丰富一系列正在进行的研究，包括景观演变和地形发展的研究，对月球岩石的研究以破译月球的影响历史，以及对古代岩石的调查以限制“大不整合”的发展及其与生物变化的联系。该项目包括支持一个代表性不足的本科生暑期实习生，一个本科生研究研讨会和三个本科生研究项目。该项目将获得：1)准分子激光烧蚀系统，2)用于构建四极杆He线的硬件，用于原位He分析，以及3)光学剖面仪。这些设备将促进实验室的发展。通过实现原位(U-Th)/He测年、单晶U-Th和He测年、U-Pb测年以及其他元素的原位测量和测年，为其研究和用户社区提供支持。这些新功能将允许：1)战略性矿物选择的快速样品筛选，2)晶内非均质性的定量，3)单晶扩散梯度的直接测量，4)化学表征，5)不完美和小晶体的定年，6)高价值样品的大部分非破坏性分析，7)避免常规全晶加热过程中可能发生的U损失，8)更高保留率相的更有效分析，9)可能增加碎屑调查的通量，10)原位U-Pb和(U-Th)/He双测年。该项目包括支持一个代表性不足的本科生暑期实习生，一个本科生研究研讨会和三个本科生研究项目。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The core missions of the CU TRaIL (University of Colorado Boulder - Thermochronology Research and Instrumentation Lab) are to foster innovative, interdisciplinary, and high-caliber research while also providing geochronology data and training to the broader Earth science community. This project will acquire three pieces of instrumentation that will add new high-spatial resolution capabilities to the CU TRaIL. This equipment will diversify the services that the lab offers, expand the opportunities that it provides to visitors, and enrich an array of ongoing research that includes studies of landscape evolution and topographic development, work on lunar rocks to decipher the impact history of the Moon, and investigations in ancient rocks to constrain development of the "Great Unconformity" and links with biologic change. The project includes support for an underrepresented undergraduate summer intern, an undergraduate research seminar, and three undergraduate research projects.This project will acquire: 1) an excimer laser-ablation system, 2) hardware to build a quadrupole He line dedicated to in situ He analysis, and 3) an optical profiler. The equipment will advance the lab?s research and that of its user community by enabling in situ (U-Th)/He dating, U-Th and He mapping of single crystals, U-Pb dating, and in situ measurements and mapping of other elements. These new capabilities will allow: 1) rapid sample screening for strategic mineral selection, 2) quantification of intracrystalline heterogeneities, 3) direct measurement of diffusion gradients in single crystals, 4) chemical characterization, 5) dating of imperfect and small crystals, 6) largely non-destructive analysis of high-value samples, 7) avoidance of U loss that can occur during conventional whole-crystal heating, 8) more efficient analysis of higher-retentivity phases, 9) possible increased throughput for detrital investigations, and 10) in situ U-Pb and (U-Th)/He double-dating. The project includes support for an underrepresented undergraduate summer intern, an undergraduate research seminar, and three undergraduate research projects.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.