Clumped isotope thermometry

使用氧和碳的双束同位素(D47和D48)是一种估计古温度的尖端分析方法，具有很好的解决各种问题的潜力。学生将参与这一新的分析方法的开发和改进，以测量从碳酸盐矿物产生的二氧化碳小样本中的三重氧(16O，17O，18O)和碳(12C，13C)同位素。他们将使用最近在EPSRC的支持下购买的剑桥Godwin实验室的一台新的质谱仪，专门用于这一应用。这是一个案例学生，学生将直接与仪器公司位于雷克瑟姆的实验室的工业主管和其他应用专家和工程师合作，改进和完善必要的硬件(离子源和电子设备)、计算机控制、样品准备和数据处理软件，以优化delta47和delta48测量的精确度和精确度。这些分析科学的发展带来的精确度和准确度的提高将确保矿物温度估计的准确性明显好于以前可以达到的水平。学生将通过将双块同位素方法应用于研究过去气候和已灭绝生物生理学的一系列重要应用，来验证这种方法的重要性。这将涉及使用各种技术(如扫描电子显微镜、阴极发光、微量元素)在同位素分析之前仔细评估和选择样品，以避免受到蚀变/埋藏成岩作用的影响。这一多学科项目利用了剑桥大学(古气候学、古生物学)和NU仪器(分析科学)主管人员的专业知识。

The use of dual clumped isotopes of oxygen and carbon (D47 and D48) is a cutting-edge analytical method to estimate palaeotemperatures with excellent potential for solving a wide variety of problems. The student will be involved in the development and refinement of this new analytical approach to the measurement of triple oxygen (16O, 17O, 18O) and carbon (12C, 13C) isotopes in small samples of CO2 produced from carbonate minerals. They will use a new mass spectrometer in the Godwin Laboratory at Cambridge which has recently been purchased, with support from EPSRC, specifically for this application. This is a Case studentship and the student will work directly with the and the industrial co-supervisor and other application specialists and engineers in the instrument company's laboratories in Wrexham to improve and refine the necessary hardware (ion source and electronics), computer control, sample preparation and data processing software to optimise the precision and accuracy of the measurement of delta47 and delta48.The increased precision and accuracy resulting from these developments in the analytical science will ensure that the accuracy of temperature estimates for minerals are significantly better than previously attainable. The student will validate the importance of this approach by applying the dual clumped isotope method to a selection of important applications for the study of past climate and the physiology of extinct organisms. This wil involve using a variety of techniques (e.g., SEM, cathodoluminescence, trace elements) to carefully evaluate and select samples prior to isotope analysis in order to avoid those affected by alteration/burial diagenesis.This multidisciplinary project draws on expertise of supervisors in Cambridge (palaeoclimatolgy, palaeobiology) and at Nu Instruments (analytical science).