Equipment: MRI: track 1 acquisition of a laser ablation system for ICP-MS to expand a broad range of analytical activities and research training in the earth sciences

The National Science Foundation's Integrative Activities program awarded a $191,294 Project Grant to the Trustees of Union College in Schenectady, New York to acquire a laser ablation system for an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (LA-ICP-MS). This advanced scientific instrumentation will enable the college's faculty and students, as well as outside researchers, to conduct high-resolution elemental analysis of geological and biological samples. The LA-ICP-MS system will support a broad range of research activities in fields such as paleoclimatology, paleogeochemistry, volcanology, and geochronology, helping to address both basic and applied questions. This award reflects the NSF's mission to enhance the competitiveness of the nation's research capacity and broaden participation in STEM disciplines.

Abstract

This MRI award funds a laser ablation (LA) system to couple with an existing inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP-MS). The LA-ICP-MS allows elemental analysis of very small areas (micron scale) of solid geological or biological samples. The LA will enable the research programs of union faculty and students, as well as those of researchers from outside institutions. The acquisition of the LA will greatly expand our ability to address both basic and applied questions in paleoclimatology, paleoenvironments, and high-temperature geochemistry (including volcanology and geochronology), and their connection to related geological, geochemical, atmospheric, hydrologic, and ecological systems. The LA will allow for both rapid throughput and high spatial resolution that is required by the proposed research activities. This instrumentation will allow the lab to expand its capabilities in geochemistry, and is critical to advancing the research needs of several geosciences faculty and their students. The LA will advance research on developing multiproxy paleoclimate, palaeoceanographic, and paleoenvironmental records, specifically to: a) utilize stalagmites to develop climate records in temperate and tropical regions; B) investigate historical pollution events using stalagmites and bivalve shells; and C) develop and investigate elemental proxies in biological carbonates including bivalve shells and corals. The LA system will also advance high-temperature geochemical research, with projects on magma mixing, volatile content of magmas prior to eruption, and thermometry in volcanic rocks and deeply eroded mountain belts. The LA will be used in undergraduate independent research, the lab components of undergraduate courses, and will advance the research of two female pre-tenure faculty at nearby institutions as well as foster new collaborations at other institutions. 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.