This award will provide funding to replace two old mass spectrometers with a state-of-the-art Thermal Ionization Mass Spectrometer (TIMS) to complement the existing Triton in the Isotope Geochemistry Laboratory at the University of Maryland. The new instrument will be installed in the space currently occupied by the two old mass spectrometers that it will replace. Specific analytical tasks to be tackled with the new TIMS instrument include: 1) high precision 182W, 142Nd-143Nd, and 186Os-187Os isotopic analysis of ancient through young mantle-derived materials, as a means of studying the evolution of early Earth reservoirs and rates of mantle mixing through time, 2) high precision measurement of Ru and Mo isotopes in early Earth rocks to search for diverse, late accreted components to Earth, 3) measurement of Os isotopic composition and abundance as a means of studying the timing, formation mechanisms and secondary processes involved in the generation of subcontinental lithospheric mantle, 4) measurement of Os isotopic composition and abundance in subduction zone materials as a tool for tracing mantle wedge contributions to mélange zones, 5) measurement of Nd and Sr isotopes in Antarctic granites as petrogenetic tools, and 6) analysis of Sr isotopes in carbonates to gauge relative rates of hydrothermal and terrestrial inputs to seawater through time.
