This award will provide support for WiscSIMS, the Wisconsin Secondary-Ion Mass-Spectrometer National Ion Microprobe Facility. This laboratory houses the first, new-generation, CAMECA ims-1280 ion microprobe and is rapidly expanding its leadership role as a center of excellence for stable isotope geochemistry. The PI's will initiate investigations combining a variety of isotope systems including: H, Li, B, C, N, O, Mg, Si, S, Cl, Ca, and Fe. They are actively seeking and developing fundamental new applications in many disciplines. The scientific design of projects, and the development of standards and analysis protocols, benefits from close association to three other isotope laboratories in the Department of Geology & Geophysics, where WiscSIMS is located. WiscSIMS takes advantage of new multicollector technology and other advances of the 1280 instrument to focus on the specialized needs of stable isotope geochemistry: high precision, small sample size, and in situ analysis. The ability of an ion microprobe to analyze isotope ratios from 1-10 ụm spots from a microscope slide, reduces sample sizes by a factor of ten thousand to one billion, and allows analyses to be placed in context with textures and other imaging. Excellent analytical precision, as good as 0.1%, is routinely attained for many isotope systems, which reveal trends and correlations that were not previously seen in earlier studies. These advantages are revolutionizing isotope geochemistry, just as the electron microprobe revolutionized in situ chemical analysis and the SHRIMP (ion microprobe) revolutionized zircon geochronology.
WiscSIMS is a National Facility for Stable Isotope Geochemistry. The lab houses an IMS-1280 large-radius, multi-collector ion microprobe that is optimized for analysis of stable isotopes (including H, Li, B, C, N, O, Mg, Si, S, Cl, Ca, and Fe). WiscSIMS has developed unique capabilities for precise and accurate analysis of isotope ratios from small to ultra small spots. Over 50% of instrument beam-time has been devoted to NSF-supported projects. Thus far, over 150 scientists have worked with WiscSIMS from 60 different universities and research institutes. The ability to analyze small spots (1-10 mm) in situ from microscope mounts allows data to be put in context with imaging and other forms of analysis. A wide range of research is conducted at WiscSIMS. The three most common areas are Igneous and Metamorphic Petrology & Geochemistry; Cosmochemistry & Astrobiology; and Low Temperature Geochemistry & Paleoclimatology. WiscSIMS has made 50% of total beam-time available each year to researchers from outside of the University of Wisconsin. The Facility is staffed by Research Scientists with many years of SIMS experience. It is not necessary for guests to have previous SIMS experience. The availability of these new in situ capabilities has lead to important discoveries in many areas of geochemistry. The range and pattern of isotope variation can now finally be determined from small objects that were formerly homogenized by analysis of bulk or powdered samples such as zircons, microfossils, and quartz overgrowths. New and surprising information of fundamental importance has been found. For instance, high-resolution carbonate studies of continental paleoclimate were previously limited to resolution at decade- to century-scale by conventional sampling techniques and yet ice-core records show that extreme shifts in deglaciation can occur in less than 10 years. Ion microprobe analysis of stalagmites has resolved changes in oxygen isotope ratio for one month or less, providing a proxy record of seasonality and annual-scale climate that addresses such rapid events. WiscSIMS has published proof-of-concept studies of many proxies of paleoclimate including speleothems, foraminifera, fish otoliths, and calcretes. The broader impacts of this project have included new applications of stable isotope geochemistry to problems of societal concern; public education; and SIMS/geochemistry training at undergraduate to post-doc level, including under-represented groups. Technology transfer is an important activity of this lab with expertise developed by high temperature geochemists over the past two decades being modified to meet needs in other sciences including Paleoclimate. WiscSIMS has published many peer-reviewed reports of new technological and scientific developments that are being applied by the larger research community. Research at WiscSIMS also includes many studies driven solely by intellectual curiosity, including the genesis of the solar system, the origin of life, and the tectonic evolution of the Earth. To publicize this information, education is emphasized as part of the routine operation of this lab. WiscSIMS staff communicates frequently with the media, and contribute to web sites and to exhibitions at the UW-Madison Geology Museum, which has 40,000 visitors/year. In addition, we teach regular courses in Stable Isotope Chemistry and Environmental Isotopes, and we train undergraduates, graduate students and post-doctoral fellows. We have trained 26 students including three minority women, two as graduate students at UW and one as an undergraduate at the University of Puerto Rico. In June 2008, we organized and ran the 5th Biennial Geochemistry SIMS Workshop in Madison, which was supported by NSF and attended by 80 scientists from around the word. The post doctoral fellows who work at WiscSIMS are trained at a high level in the theory, operation, and applications of the instrument, the skills required to direct such a lab. The University of Wisconsin ranks 4th in the nation for training PhD Earth Scientists who now have faculty positions in American colleges and universities, and Prof. Valley has advised 32 PhD students and post-docs, 12 of whom now direct stable isotope or ion microprobe labs. There are nine former post-docs from WiscSIMS who have graduated to permanent employment in teaching and research.
