This project will fund the acquisition of an Inductively Coupled Plasma - Optical Emission Spectrometer (ICP-OES) for the Miami University Department of Geology. The new instrument will support and enhance existing strengths of the department. Over the past 15 years the Department of Geology has moved to further enhance geochemistry as a prime focus of its research and teaching efforts, and because of this, the need for routine acquisition of reliable, high quality geochemical data continues to grow. The new ICP-OES will become the centerpiece for routine analytical geochemistry teaching and research where precise quantitative analysis of major, minor, and trace elements in a variety of matrices including rocks, minerals, soils, and natural waters is required. Eight geology faculty/staff PIs and associated student research groups and their collaborators initially will utilize the ICP-OES to address hypotheses and elucidate problems in igneous petrogenesis including mantle-crust interactions and evolution, tephrochronology and the environmental context for human evolution, pedogenesis in hyperarid climates and implications for climate change, geomicrobial processes in extreme geological environments, microbe-water-mineral interactions, remediation of heavy metal pollution in groundwater and acid mine drainage, and crystal chemical investigations applied to nuclear waste storage.
The new ICP-OES and associated geochemical laboratories will serve to train undergraduate and graduate students and post-doctoral researchers in modern aspects of geological and environmental sample preparation, experimental design, and the use of analytical laboratory equipment. Additionally, women comprised over 50% of our geochemistry research that involved students. Moreover, PIs Hart and Widom currently oversee a combined research group that includes six female graduate and two female undergraduate students, and one African-American student.
This award made possible the purchase of an Agilent model 720ES axially-viewing inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometer (ICP-OES) for the geochemical laboratories in Miami University’s Department of Geology & Environmental Earth Science. The ICP-OES replaced a 25 year old instrument and already has become a centerpiece for student and faculty learning and research as it allows rapid, accurate, and precise measurement of a large suite of metals from a variety of geological and environmental materials. The ICP-OES and a second instrument (Anton-Parr HPA-S for acid digestion of solid materials) purchased with funds supplementing the original award have catalyzed technique development and new lines of collaborative research within and beyond the University. Thus far the ICP-OES has been used by approximately 12 faculty/staff members, 2 post-doctoral researchers, 19 undergraduate students, and 17 graduate students in support of basic and applied geo- and environmental science research. Additionally, this instrument and its supporting laboratories provide instructional environments for undergraduate and graduate level geochemistry courses. The ICP-OES research use has been focused on the following types of materials: rocks and minerals (30%), natural waters (35%), laboratory synthesis products (20%), and solutions associated with technique development (15%). Recent and ongoing studies relying heavily on the ICP-OES and associated labs are quite diverse and group into several themes including: distributions of environmental pollutants such as lead and arsenic and other heavy metals, origin and evolution of intrusive and extrusive igneous rocks, correlation of volcanic ash layers supporting human evolution studies, geochemistry of natural waters, elemental adsorption or leaching from various materials, composition of playa lake sediments and hot spring waters and deposits, heavy metal substitution in apatite, and various geomicrobiology projects involving bacteria-clay interactions. The new ICP-OES and associated geochemical laboratories at Miami University provide a critical research and teaching resource and one that provides training to undergraduate and graduate students and post-doctoral researchers in modern aspects of geological and environmental sample preparation, experimental design, and the use of analytical laboratory equipment. These geologists and geochemists will enter graduate and professional schools and/or will take their place in the geo- and environmental science workforces.
