Upgrade of Research Equipment for the UNM Volatiles Laboratory

该奖项全部或部分根据2021年美国救援计划法案（公法117-2）资助。它将在新墨西哥州大学建立科学基础设施，以便能够测量火山喷发物和温泉中惰性气体氦的成分。目前，美国很少有实验室能够在火山气体中进行这些测量。惰性气体氦在地球科学中被用作地球内部深处信息的信使。从火山口和热泉喷出的氦成分的变化已经被证明是新岩浆进入火山系统或气体压力积累的信号，可能导致火山爆发。这个项目的重点是从新墨西哥州的Valles Caldera喷出的氦成分，这是一座大约一百万年前产生大规模喷发的超级火山。这座火山仍然在深处拥有一个大型岩浆体，火山口中还有一个温泉系统。将在整个破火山口的这些泉水处收集样本，并与最近的地震和成像研究进行比较，以更好地了解Valles Caldera火山系统的动态。我们期望从该项目中学到的东西可以应用于其他更活跃的火山系统，以提高我们预测火山爆发的能力，从而挽救生命和财产。该项目还支持传统上代表性不足的群体在地球科学的教育，提供了一个为期4周的研讨会，在地球科学的氦的主题和实地考察附近的氦工厂，提取这种有价值的商品用于商业用途。 该项目的重点是对新墨西哥大学挥发物实验室进行升级，以便能够分析来自火山和热液系统的气体样本中的惰性气体同位素。电子和真空系统的升级将大大扩大我们目前的分析能力，目前的分析能力仅限于用气相色谱法和四极质谱法对主要气体和痕量气体进行相对丰度分析，以及用红外同位素比率光谱法进行碳稳定同位素分析。升级后的实验室的直接应用将是收集和分析来自新墨西哥州Valles Caldera的大量气体样品，以约束地幔挥发物通过空间和时间输入岩浆-热液系统。为此目的收集的氦同位素数据将在空间上与新获得的地震层析成像数据相关联，以阐明破火山口下岩浆系统的动态。 从Valles Caldera系统的气体排放的时间采样程序将使我们能够开发模型，最终可以告知导致火山爆发的过程，并提高我们对大型火山口系统中挥发性来源（地壳与地幔）的理解。 我们更广泛的影响活动包括关于氦同位素在地球科学中的效用以及氦作为现代社会资源的本科研讨会的教学。该研讨会将针对UNM分支校园传统上代表性不足的学生，并提供参观氦气工厂的机会，亲眼目睹这种宝贵的自然资源的提取过程。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2). It will build scientific infrastructure at the University of New Mexico (UNM) to enable the measurements of the composition of the noble gas helium in volcanic emanations and thermal springs. Currently there are very few laboratories in the US that have the ability to make these measurements in volcanic gases. The noble gas helium is used in the geosciences as a messenger of information from deep in the Earth’s interior. Changes in the composition of helium emitted from volcanic vents and thermal springs have been shown to signal the arrival of new magma into a volcanic system or the accumulation of gas pressure that can lead to volcanic eruptions. This project focusses on the helium composition emitted from the Valles Caldera in New Mexico, a super volcano that produced a massive eruption about one million years ago. This volcano still hosts a large magma body at depth and a system of thermal springs in the crater. Samples will be collected at these springs throughout the caldera and compared to recent earthquake and imaging studies to understand better the dynamics of the Valles Caldera volcanic system. What we expect to learn from the project can then be applied to other more active volcanic systems to improve our ability to forecast volcanic eruptions to save life and property. The project also supports education of traditionally underrepresented groups in the geosciences by offering a 4-week seminar on the topic of helium in the earth sciences and a field trip to a nearby helium plant that extracts this valuable commodity for commercial uses. This project focusses on an upgrade of the UNM Volatiles Laboratory to enable the analysis of noble gas isotopes in gas samples from volcanic and hydrothermal systems. The electronics and vacuum system upgrade will significantly expand our current analytical capabilities which are limited to the relative abundance analyses of major and trace gases by gas chromatography and quadrupole mass spectrometry and to carbon stable isotope analyses by infrared isotope ratio spectrometry. The immediate application of the upgraded laboratory will be to collect and analyze a large number of gas samples from Valles Caldera, New Mexico to constrain the mantle volatile input into the magmatic-hydrothermal system through space and time. The helium isotope data collected for this purpose will be correlated spatially with newly acquired seismic tomography data to elucidate the dynamics of the magmatic system under the caldera. A temporal sampling program of gas discharges from the Valles Caldera system will enable us to develop models that can eventually inform processes leading to volcanic eruptions and improve our understanding of volatile sources (crustal versus mantle) in large caldera systems. Our broader impact activities include the teaching of an undergraduate seminar on the utility of helium isotopes in the Earth Sciences as well as helium as a resource in modern society. The seminar will target traditionally underrepresented students from UNM branch campuses and offer the opportunity to visit a helium plant to see first-hand the process of extraction of this valuable natural resource.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.