The purpose of this award is to purchase a Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FTIR) with attached microscope to analyze tiny amounts of water in minerals from rocks deep in the Earth. Our planet is unique in the solar system in that it has a lot of water and is a living planet with active tectonics. This FTIR will allow PI's Peslier and Meen to estimate how much water is present in the upper mantle, the Earth's layer between 10-30 km and 410 km, where most volcanic and plate tectonic activities originate. Water plays a crucial role in these phenomena, for example, by allowing the melting of rocks at lower temperatures (a link to magma generation) and by facilitating deformation of rocks (a link to geodynamics). Knowledge of the amount of water present and its location are also important in correct interpretation of seismic and electric conductivity "remote" imaging of the Earth's mantle. The FTIR will be the main research analytical tool of PI Peslier. It will be located in the Material Characterization Facility of the Texas Center for Superconductivity at the University of Houston, and will be made available to faculty and their students from the Geosciences Department collaborating with the PIs. In the long run, the FTIR will become a key teaching tool for students in the Departments of Geosciences and Chemistry of U.H. through an analytical-techniques course and through their own graduate projects.
