Acquisition of an Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometer for Research and Education in Geological and Paleoclimate Studies at the University of Houston

该合同将支持休斯顿大学地球和大气科学系购买同位素比质谱仪(IRMS)。该仪器将扩展分析能力，提高分析准确度和精密度，增加样品吞吐量，并使休斯顿大学目前无法进行的分析成为可能。它的灵敏度和精确度大大提高，可以测量碳酸盐中的块状同位素，以及气体、岩石和其他基质中轻元素(C、H、O、N和S)的传统稳定同位素表征。它将改善每个PI的研究计划，该计划涵盖地质和古气候研究的广泛领域，他们指导和教授研究生和本科生的能力，以及与其他机构的合作。博士后、本科生和研究生将参与使用该仪器的实践培训机会，该仪器与新颖的科学项目和其他教育活动完全结合在一起。通过实际操作培训和相关课程，该仪器将成为吸引本科生和研究生学习稳定同位素地球化学的宝贵工具，特别是那些在STEM领域历来代表性不足的学生(妇女和少数族裔)。它将向本科生和研究生灌输跨学科知识，并为来自休斯顿大学不同系和学院、当地教育机构和研究组织的学生、博士后和教职员工提供服务。更重要的是，通过外展活动，它将加强对当地K-12学生的地球科学教育，激励他们考虑在地球科学领域建立事业，并提高大休斯顿地区一般公众的科学意识。所需的IRMS仪器将成为研究地球和其他行星体的基本地质过程、古气候对人类进化和迁移的影响、古环境和冰川史的不可或缺的组成部分。它将通过进行精确的同位素测量，促进当前和未来令人兴奋的跨学科研究，并在地球科学的广泛领域实现新的发现领域。在有机地球化学和天体生物学中，利用地质环境和实验室实验中碳酸盐岩的低碳烷烃和簇状同位素的同位素特征来阐明它们的反应途径和形成条件，并约束它们的成因。在地质考古学和土壤科学中，块状、三重氧和传统的稳定同位素被用来重建过去的气候和过去的环境，以更好地了解人类和原始人进化的背景。在洞穴群科学和湖沼学中，利用洞穴群和湖泊沉积物的常规稳定同位素和最近开发的两个替代物可以提供对古气候和古环境的全面了解。在海洋和冰川地质学中，为了更好地了解冰川历史，从环极深水可能融化主要冰盖底部的沉积岩芯收集的有孔虫稳定同位素记录，计算了南极西部过去的海水温度。通过目前的合作，史前骨骼的同位素签名将与考古细节和遗传分析相结合，以确定欧洲和东南亚古代人口中的亲属制度和社会不平等的根源。总而言之，相关研究项目指向了休斯顿大学最先进的IRMS加上适当的外围设备将允许的潜在的高影响力科学。这些科学发现将使休斯顿大学处于稳定同位素地球化学研究的前沿。这一奖项反映了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。

This award will support the acquisition of an Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometer (IRMS) in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Houston. The instrument will expand analytical capabilities, enhance analytical accuracy and precision, increase sample throughput, and enable currently unavailable analyses at the University of Houston. Its highly improved sensitivity and precision allow measurements of clumped isotopes in carbonates, as well as traditional stable isotope characterization of light elements (C, H, O, N, and S) in gases, rocks, and other matrices. It will improve the research program of each PI, which covers a wide range of areas in geological and paleoclimate studies, their abilities to mentor and teach graduate and undergraduate students, and collaborations with other institutions. Postdocs, undergraduate and graduate students will be involved in hands-on training opportunities with this instrument, which are fully integrated with novel scientific projects and other educational activities. Through hands-on trainings and related courses, the instrument will be an invaluable tool for engaging undergraduate and graduate students in stable isotope geochemistry, in particular those historically underrepresented students (women and minorities) in STEM fields. It will infuse undergraduate and graduate students with interdisciplinary knowledge, and serve students, postdocs, and faculty from different departments and colleges at the University of Houston, local educational institutions, and research organizations. More importantly, through outreach activities, it will enhance geoscience education for local K-12 students, motivate them to consider building careers in geoscience, and raise public awareness of science in general in the greater Houston area.The requested IRMS instrument will form an integral component of research into fundamental geological processes on Earth and other planetary bodies, paleoclimatic effects on human evolution and migration, paleoenvironment and glacial history. It will foster current and future exciting interdisciplinary research by making precise isotopic measurements, and enable new fields of discovery in broad areas of Earth sciences. In organic geochemistry and astrobiology, isotopic signatures of light alkanes and clumped isotopes of carbonates from geological environments and laboratory experiments are used to elucidate their reaction pathway and formation condition, and constrain their origin. In geoarchaeology and soil science, clumped, triple oxygen, and traditional stable isotopes are used to reconstruct past climate and past environments to better understand the context in which humans and hominins evolved. In speleothem science and limnology, the use of conventional stable isotopes of speleothem and lake sediments with two recently developed proxies can provide a comprehensive understanding of paleoclimate and paleoenvironment. In marine and glacial geology, past ocean water temperatures in west Antarctica are calculated using the stable isotope records from foraminifera, collected from sediment cores in locations where circumpolar deep water may be melting the base of major ice sheets, to better understand glacial history. Through current collaboration, the isotopic signatures of prehistoric skeletons will be combined with archaeological details and genetic analyses to identify the kinship system and origin of social inequality within ancient populations in Europe and Southeast Asia. Altogether, the related research projects point to the potentially high-impact science that a state-of-the-art IRMS with appropriate peripherals would allow at the University of Houston. The scientific findings will place the University of Houston on the leading edge of stable isotope geochemistry research.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.