Early Career: Acquisition of a Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Facility for Earth Science Research at Baylor University

Baylor University, Waco TX

Investigators

Abstract

This award will be used to purchase components for the upgrade of a solid-state 300 MHz nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer (NMR) for the analysis of environmental samples at Baylor University. The NMR facility will be part of the Geology Department?s organic geochemistry laboratory. The purchase of a solid-state probe with cross-polarization and magic angle spinning will facilitate the acquisition of NMR spectra for nuclei of low abundance in geomedia (e.g. 13C and 15N)?providing information on the structure, identity, and molecular dynamics of the organic matter in modern and ancient soil and sediment. NSF funds will be used to establish an NMR summer school ? an internationally-publicized short-course intended to equip students in the Earth and environmental sciences with the technical expertise necessary to apply NMR spectroscopy to their research interests The solid-state NMR facility will support the research of Baylor faculty and students in the department of geology as well as 3 interdisciplinary initiatives: the terrestrial paleoclimate research group (7 faculty members), the institute of ecological, Earth, and environmental sciences (19 faculty members), and the center for reservoir and aquatic systems research (19 faculty members). Research areas that will immediately benefit from the access to the NMR facility include: 1) characterizing the oxidation state of global soil carbon pools and the response of ecosystem oxidative ratio to climate change, 2) assessing the impact of developing-world land use on the quality of riverine organic matter delivered to the oceans (NSF GEO OCE-funded), 3) developing ecosystem biochemical inventories as a tool for understanding soil carbon dynamics, 4) development and validation of a paleo-fire temperature proxy for studying the role of fire in the Earth system, 5) application of the paleofire temperature proxy to several NSF-EAR funded studies of Pleistocene -Holocene climate variability using paleosol records 6) calibrating the paleosol CO2 barometer for vertic paleosols by monitoring carbon cycling in modern Vertisols (NSF EAR-funded), 7) elucidating mechanisms of natural organic matter interactions with nanoscale mineral particles, and 8) investigations of the aggregate structure in melanins. Solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is a powerful analytical tool capable of non-invasively extracting a host of chemical structure information from environmental samples (soil, sediment, biomass, etc). However, NMR spectroscopy remains underutilized in the geosciences because it is not a part of traditional Earth and environmental science curricula. Baylor University has recently undertaken several major initiatives to meet the society?s increasing need for scientists with interdisciplinary training in the Earth and environmental sciences with the establishment of a terrestrial paleoclimate research team, a PhD-granting institute in the ecological, Earth, and Environmental systems (TIEEES), and a center for reservoir and aquatic systems research (CRASR). We propose the establishment of a facility that would give the faculty and students participating in these programs access to solid-state NMR spectroscopy for geological, biogeochemical, and environmental studies. The solid-state NMR facility will be integrated into Baylor University?s Advanced Instrumentation Workshop, which is held annually for student and faculty from the area?s small colleges. Additionally, NSF funds will be used to establish an NMR summer school ? an internationally-publicized short-course intended to equip students in the Earth and environmental sciences with the technical expertise necessary to apply NMR spectroscopy to their research interests. The intended outcome of the proposed research is to help the geoscience community utilize an undeveloped geoanalytical capability that exists at many major research institutions.