This project will provide partial funding to develop instrumentation for an x.ray fluorescence (XRF) macroprobe. The equipment will employ a highly.collimated x.ray beam for the quantitative macroscopic analysis of natural and synthetic samples encountered in earth science research. Computer control of x.y positioning will allow elemental mapping of fine.grained rocks at spatial scales previously unattainable. The instrument will be designed, assembled and tested in the XRF laboratory of the Department of Chemistry at Colorado State University. The equipment is designed to fill a gap that now exists between whole.rock analysis requiring destruction of sample fabric and electron beam microanalysis methods which are restricted to coverage of only very small sample areas. Potential geological applications include studies of elemental flux in chemically altered rocks.
