UPGRADE of existing Element2 (ICPMS) and ACQUiSITION of a Replacement Laser Ablation System at the University of Maryland, Geology

University Of Maryland, College Park, College Park MD

Investigators

Abstract

This award will fund the refurbishment/upgrade of a 21-year-old Thermo Element 2 ICP-MS instrument in the Plasma Laboratory in the Department of Geology, University of Maryland. It will also fund the acquisition of a laser ablation system (LA). The system upgrade will include replacement of the software and some electronic and vacuum components, making the system compatible with modern versions of the same instrument and thus serviceable. This instrument upgrade in combination with the new laser ablation system will continue the 21-year record of research and education in the Plasma Laboratory. This support will permit the laboratory to continue to address current NSF-sponsored research, as well as serve future research and educational needs. This laboratory has, and will maintain, a rich and diverse portfolio of research programs with these instruments that covers topics spanning from the Earth’s core and mantle to the crust, surface processes, and ocean-atmospheric interactions. Over its 21-year history, the Plasma Laboratory has employed and supervised 38 undergraduate research assistants, provided hands-on experience acquiring geochemical data for 28 senior thesis research projects, and has been a teaching facility used to train students (~53 graduate, ~63 undergraduate, 6 high school) and numerous post-docs on analytical methods. A number of these users have gone on to establish and run their own research laboratories. The laboratory contributions to fundamental knowledge, and those of our “offspring” scientists, have significantly enhanced society’s base of fundamental and applied knowledge of geological and non-geological processes. This facility we will be critical to the analysis of samples used to understand: (1) the compositional nature and origin of the bulk silicate Earth, core, continental crust, and modern mantle, (2) tracing fluid-rock interactions during metamorphism and estimating pressure-temperature-time conditions during metamorphism, (3) volatile cycling on planets and planetesimals, including the Earth, Moon and Mars and their precursor planetesimals, (4) isotope dilution measurements of highly siderophile elements, (5) analysis of forensic materials (including historic poisoning cases and nuclear materials), dinosaur bones, new pharmaceutical materials (including drug delivery systems), superconductors, and next generation batteries, (6) tracing the evolution of the redox state of the Earth’s mantle, (7) controls on volcano explosivity, the generation and evolution of planetary atmospheres, and the storage and transport of volatiles in planetary interiors, and (8) chromatographic column calibrations and improving yields for high-precision isotopic measurements. 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.