This award is supporting the development of a multi-user facility for 40Ar/39Ar geochronology at the University of Vermont. The 40Ar/39Ar technique, based on the radioactive decay of 40K to 40Ar, is one of the most versatile geochronologic methods available to Earth Scientists. Because potassium-bearing minerals are common in igneous and metamorphic rocks, the technique can be used to date minerals ranging in age from thousands to billions of years. In addition, depending on whether a mineral grows above or below its closure temperature for the isotopic system and the rate of cooling, the potential exists to both date relatively discrete events and to elucidate thermal histories of rocks. Thus a wide variety of applications for the technique exist, spanning high resolution time scale calibrations to tracking rates of exhumation and orogenic erosion, to burial and diagenesis and faulting in the upper crust. The primary research foci for this facility is generalized by themes that include: 1) the investigation of large scale tectonic processes, the evolution of orogenic belts, and constraining timing and rates of slip on faults and shear zones through the record of progressive deformation and overprinting relationships; and 2) placing temporal constraints on basin evolution and upper crustal processes, investigating linkages between faulting, tectonics, and sedimentation, and surface expressions of deep Earth processes.
The laboratory is supporting the research program of an Early Career faculty member at the University of Vermont as well as providing access to a 40Ar/39Ar analytical facility for researchers at nearby universities and colleges and for researchers at government and state agencies. Many of these institutions that utilize this facility, including the University of Vermont, have a strong emphasis on undergraduate research; therefore teaching and training at the undergraduate through graduate level is an important component of the laboratory mission and culture. Development of the facility is providing significant opportunities for the integration of research and education through hands on use of the laboratory by students for independent research projects and, as appropriate, as part of the department curriculum. The facility is presenting new opportunities for national and international collaborations and for PI and her colleagues to attract post-doctoral scholars. Data generated by the facility is being made broadly available to the scientific community through publication in international journals and through the GEOCHRON system hosted at EarthChem.
