MRI: Acquisition of a Multicollector – Inductively Coupled Plasma – Mass Spectrometer at the University of Arizona for Earth and Planetary Science Research, Education and Outre

该MRI奖项提供资金，用于购买配备碰撞/反应池和MS/MS质量过滤器的下一代多集电极电感耦合等离子体质谱仪（MC-ICPMS）。该仪器将被安置在亚利桑那州LaserChron中心（ALC）内，这是亚利桑那大学（UA）支持地球科学研究的NSF支持的社区设施。它将由ALC和亚利桑那州重同位素实验室（AHIL）共同管理。ALC和AHIL研究人员追求的科学问题包括重建地球，月球，火星和其他行星物质的火成岩演化;火山爆发的时间;山脉的构造演化和隆起;沉积物的运输和积累;贱金属矿床和其他战略和能源资源的形成;重建地球气候的历史，包括冰盖的模式和风成（黄土）沉积物的追踪。新仪器将直接支持每年访问ALC的约350名教职员工，专业地质学家和学生的研究工作，使更广泛的地球科学界能够使用最先进的分析方法。此外，该仪器将为学生和研究人员提供新的机会，学习质谱分析的理论和方法;数据采集和处理;并为广泛的用户群提供教育和外展活动，包括STEM中代表性不足的少数群体的参与者。新的MC-ICPMS将通过提高准确性，使用现有分析方法的精确度，开发只有使用拟议仪器才能实现的新技术，以及提高分析能力。特别是，ALC的研究将强调：i）开发基于激光的MC-ICPMS地质年代学的新技术，充分利用新颖的碰撞/反应池和MS/MS能力（例如，Rb-Sr）;和ii）提供更大的能力，以满足日益增长的社区需求的U-Th/Pb地质年代学和补充Lu-Hf同位素分析。我们预计，原位Rb-Sr方法应用于长石和云母将改变岩石年代学和碎屑矿物的研究，就像锆石U-Pb影响了地球科学研究的许多不同领域一样。AHIL研究将强调在大块岩石和矿物中Ti，Zr和Hf的非传统稳定同位素的新兴技术的开发和应用，以研究影响岩浆作用，流体流动，壳幔分异和关键元素分布的高温岩石学过程。通过与UA月球和行星实验室的研究人员的联系，我们将利用这些新的能力来研究行星地球化学/地质年代学的各个方面，这些方面与地球的起源和演化有关。 通过社区外展和研究培训代表性不足的学生和博士后研究人员，PI/Co-PI将确保新的MC-ICPMS利用UA作为R1西班牙裔服务机构和美国印第安人和阿拉斯加本土服务机构的地位，以提高地球科学的多样性，同时解决岩石学，地球化学，构造，该奖项反映了NSF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。

This MRI award provides funding to acquire a next-generation Multicollector – Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer (MC-ICPMS) equipped with a collision/reaction cell and MS/MS mass filter. The instrument will be housed within the Arizona LaserChron Center (ALC), an NSF-supported Community Facility at the University of Arizona (UA) that supports research in Earth Sciences. It will be co-managed between ALC and the Arizona Heavy Isotopes Laboratory (AHIL). Science questions pursued by ALC and AHIL researchers include reconstructing the igneous evolution of Earth, Moon, Mars, and other planetary materials; the timing of volcanic eruptions; tectonic evolution and uplift of mountain ranges; transport and accumulation of sediments; formation of base metal deposits and other strategic and energy resources; reconstructing the history of Earth’s climate, including patterns of ice sheets and tracing of aeolian (loess) deposits. The new instrument will directly support the research efforts of ~350 faculty members, professional geologists, and students that visit the ALC each year, by making state-of-the-art analytical methods accessible to the broader Earth Science community. Furthermore, the instrument will provide new opportunities for students and researchers to learn the theory and methods of mass spectrometry; data acquisition and processing; and offer educational and outreach activities for a broad user base including participants from under-represented minority groups in STEM.The new MC-ICPMS will complement other ICPMS and laser-ablation systems available at ALC by enabling improved accuracy/precision using existing analytical methods, development of new techniques only achievable with the proposed instrumentation, as well as increasing analytical capacity. In particular, research in ALC will emphasize: i) developing new techniques in laser-based MC-ICPMS geochronology that take full advantage of the novel collision/reaction cell and MS/MS capabilities (e.g., Rb-Sr); and ii) providing greater capacity to meet the growing community demands for U-Th/Pb geochronology and complementary Lu-Hf isotope analysis. We anticipate that in-situ Rb-Sr methods applied to feldspar and mica will transform petrochronology and detrital mineral studies in much the same way that zircon U-Pb has impacted many different areas of Earth science research. AHIL research will emphasize the development and application of emerging techniques in non-traditional stable isotopes of Ti, Zr, and Hf in bulk-rocks and minerals to study high-temperature petrologic processes influencing magmatism, fluid flow, crust-mantle differentiation, and the distribution of critical elements. Through connections with researchers in the UA Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, we will leverage these novel capabilities to study aspects of planetary geochemistry/geochronology that bear on Earth’s origin and evolution. Through community outreach and research training for underrepresented students and postdoctoral researchers, the PI/Co-PIs will ensure that the new MC-ICPMS takes advantage of UA’s position as an R1 Hispanic Serving Institution and American Indian and Alaska Native-Serving Institution for enhancing diversity in geosciences, while addressing exciting new questions in petrology, geochemistry, tectonics, and planetary sciences.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.