MRI: Acquisition of an Alpha Spectrometry System for Research and Undergraduate Training in Geology and Environmental Science

Cornell College, Mount Vernon IA

Investigators

Abstract

0115704 Denniston This grant, made through the Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) Program, provides full support of the costs of acquiring a bank of alpha spectrometers for uranium-series (238U-234U-230Th and 226Ra-210Pb) isotope dating of speleothems and corals. The equipment will include a Canberra Genie-2000 benchtop alpha analyst with dual alpha spectrometers, 450 mm2 PIPS detectors, hardware and software for operation and data reduction, as well as a radon analysis system composed of Storm King R-LPSS double Rn extraction system with an Applied Techniques model AC/DC-DRC-MK10-2 dual radon counting system. Acquisition of this instrument will enable two lines of research in earth systems processes at Cornell College, including the impacts of environmental change on continental and shallow marine environments: (1) construction of speleothem-based records of Holocene climate variability from the midwestern U.S.A. and central Nepal and (2) analysis of the temporal resolving power of reef coral death assemblages as a means of assessing the response of reef coral communities to global climate change. Both research areas will be addressed as faculty and faculty-guided undergraduate projects that will be combined with stable and radiogenenic isotope mass spectrometric analyses at the University of Iowa and the University of New Mexico. The research experiences students receive using this alpha spectrometry system will enhance quantitative and analytical skills, expand appreciation for independent research as a tool for scientific training, introduce a variety of environmentally-oriented research topics, and develop peripheral skills including X-ray diffraction and optical microscope methods, stable isotopic analysis, and thermal ionization mass spectrometry. ***