With this award, the PIs and faculty colleagues at UNH and other Northern New England institutions will acquire a multicollector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (MC-ICP-MS) to carry out high-precision isotopic measurements for a variety of elements applicable to studies in the Earth and environmental sciences. Isotopic characterization of Earth and environmental materials continues to revolutionize our capability to track and quantify processes as well as understand elemental fluxes between different reservoirs of the Earth system. Isotopic data are also critical to deciphering the timing of major events in Earth history that profoundly impact the evolution of life, Earth?s climate and the physical development of the continents, ocean basins and the planet?s interior. Projects capitalizing on this facility will include: (1) advancement and enhancement of the quantitative model for the isotopic consequences of partial melting of Earth?s crust; (2) geochemical assessment of mantle melting dynamics; (3) isotopic characterization of soil minerals, fungal material, and tree tissues from novel biogeochemical experiments designed to develop elemental and isotopic proxies for nutrient limitation; (4) early evolution of Earth?s mantle and lithosphere, as recorded by silicic and ultramafic rocks in early Archean cratons; (5) geochronologic and tracer studies to quantify the rates and mechanisms of crustal processes, with emphasis on modern plate boundaries and past orogenic events; (6) isotopic tracer applications to elucidate sediment provenance; (7) geochronologic and tracer applications to constrain environmental change in Earth?s history; (8) hydrogeological applications of isotopic ratios to identify surface and ground water interactions and anthropogenic contributions to mixed-use watersheds; and (9) isotopic tracking of air mass provenance and atmospheric chemical reactions.
Broader impacts of this analytical facility will include student training, innovation of new analytical techniques, and the strengthening (and development) of research ties between several New England institutions. Data collected in this facility will foster the growth of quantitative models for characterizing varied deep Earth, Earth surface, deep time and atmospheric processes.
