A GC-MS system for the analysis of biomarkers and petroleum-derived contaminants in natural systems

要求使用安捷伦GC-MS来替换16-YO。对我们的研究至关重要的仪器，它在4年前停止运行。该仪器是实验室的主要设备，用于一系列研究，利用有机生物标记物破译有机物质的来源、加工和汇，以及石油衍生的污染源和归宿。使用所请求的仪器将解决的主要科学问题是：(1)自本世纪初以来，河口最大浑浊和缺氧区的水柱和沉积物中的有机质动力学发生了什么变化，物理和生化过程在多大程度上导致了大量陆地OM与其分子和同位素特征之间的脱钩？(2)海洋和湖泊沉积物中与铁氧化物特别相关的有机物的分子水平组成是什么？(3)从圣劳伦斯水道过境的主要石油衍生污染物的分子和同位素指纹是什么，它们在扩散和运输过程中如何变化？(4)在地下水和海水中发现的痕量低分子WHC的浓度和性质是什么？此外，作为气候变暖下高纬度土壤和湿地碳储存库稳定性正在进行的工作的一部分，我们将(5)利用分子生物标记物的分布和同位素组成追踪碳从陆地生态系统向水生生态系统转移的分子尺度过程；(6)开发古生菌和细菌脂类的同位素分析，作为甲烷循环的示踪剂。我们估计，作为这些项目的一部分进行的GC-MS分析的数量将是每年1000英镑，在基础和社会(应用)层面都会产生重大成果。

An Agilent GC-MS is requested to replace a 16-y.o. instrument that is critical to our research and that stopped functioning 4 years ago. The instrument is the workhorse of the laboratory and is exploited in a range of studies making use of organic biomarkers to decipher organic matter sources, processing and sinks, as well as petroleum-derived contamination sources and fate. The main scientific questions that will be addressed using the requested instrument are: (1) What are the changes in organic matter dynamics in the water column and sediments of estuarine maximum turbidity and hypoxic zones since the beginning of the century, and to what extent physical and biochemical processes lead to the decoupling between bulk terrestrial OM and its molecular and isotopic signatures? (2) What is the molecular-level composition of organic matter specifically associated with iron oxides in marine and lacustrine sediments? (3) What are the molecular and isotopic fingerprints of the major petroleum-derived contaminants transiting in the St. Lawrence waterways, and how do they change during dispersion and transport? (4) What are the concentration and nature of the LMWHC found at trace levels in ground and sea water? In addition, as part of on-going work on the stability of carbon storage reservoirs in high-latitude soils and wetlands under a warming climate, we will (5) Trace molecular scale processes of carbon transport from terrestrial to aquatic ecosystems using the distribution and isotopic composition of molecular biomarkers; and (6) Develop isotopic analyses of archaeal and bacterial lipids as tracers of methane cycling. We estimate that the number of GC-MS analyses carried out as part of these projects will be >1000 per year, with significant outcomes both at the fundamental and societal (applied) levels.