MRI: Acquisition of Instrumentation for Sediment Description, SIO Geological Core Repository

University Of California-San Diego Scripps Inst Of Oceanography, La Jolla CA

Investigators

Abstract

The Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) Geological Collections is one of the largest marine geological repositories in the US and provides the research community access to deep sea samples as well as tools for sedimentary analysis. The project will support the SIO Geological Collections to buy an Avaatech Core scanner that produces non-destructive chemical information of deep sea samples. The scanner inexpensively provides rapid information on sediment age and the climatological significance of sediment cores as a first step in the research process. The Core Scanner will enable repository staff to distribute data to researchers that will help them get the most value from the thousands of cores in the SIO Geological Collections. In addition, researchers will be able to have their own cores scanned, allowing investigators to determine where to focus their research attention. Geochemical data produced by the Avaatech XRF core scanner will help university students understand everything from the historical record of climate and ecosystems to the archaeological and tectonic history preserved in the deep-sea sedimentary record. X-ray Fluorescence imaging is the most frequently requested service to the international research community that is provided by the SIO Geological Collections repository. The Aavatech Core Scanner will significantly improve data collection on marine sediment cores held in the SIO collection. New data sets provided by the instrument include magnetic susceptibility, UV imaging, and z-axis x-ray florescence scanning at angles off the long axis of a core. The capability to process three cores at once will enhance throughput significantly. The user-base for the SIO Geological Collections includes researchers in climate research, sedimentology, tectonics, geoscience education, marine archaeology, and conservation biology. One of the research projects enabled by this instrument is a study of Antarctic Ice Sheet history and Southern Ocean dynamics from marine sediment cores. Another funded project investigates oceanographic changes at the northern margin of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current and climate variability on the South American continent using samples collected during a JOIDES Resolution 100 Cruise. Researchers at the US Geological Survey propose to use the Aavatech Core Scanner to analyze records of earthquakes predating the historic record in Coastal California and California lakes. Lake records will also be used to reconstruct past droughts, floods, and fire in California over the past 100,000 years. XRF data will also reveal the environmental history of Mediterranean sediment cores by locating chronologically-important features like dated volcanic ashes that can be used in tephra chronology. Finally, the instrument will be used in a wide variety of public outreach, high school, and university-level education tours, modules and student research projects. For instance, the Aavatech instrument will be a central tool for an on-going GeoPaths training project. The SIO GeoPaths program uses at-sea experiences to introduce undergraduates from diverse backgrounds to the whole cycle of geoscience research, ranging from cruise planning to post-cruise work at SIO on the collected material. The new instrument will maintain the SIO Geological Collection as not only a premier West Coast archive of marine geological samples, but also as education center for marine geology and environmental research. 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.