Geologists try to answer questions about how the Earth works by studying rocks. What, for example, can rocks tell us about the age of the Earth? What can we know about the origin of those rocks we call meteorites and their role in planet formations? Rocks even allow us to examine Earth processes like volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. One way geologists use rocks to better understand the Earth and its processes is by looking at specific chemical elements, such as uranium, carbon, oxygen and nitrogen, that are found in the minerals that form rocks. Until recently, geologists have been unable to examine the chemistry of those minerals beyond their elements, which has limited their ability to understand how minerals form and replicate that formation or record and explain geological processes. This award will fund the development of a technique that will allow geologists to see inside minerals and analyze the most basic components of elements, that is to say atoms. At the University of Alabama, we have the newest instrument that can analyze atoms in rocks. We will also use the funding to train students to use this instrument and to invite geologists across the United States to collaborate and use our facilities. This technique allows geologists to see the chemistry in minerals from a new perspective that can ultimately produce a better understanding of how volcanoes work, how gems form, how oil and gas are trapped in rocks, among other geological processes with importance to our society. With this new knowledge, geologists will be able to, for example, predict and mitigate hazards, replicate resources that are currently limited, and produce and harness energy in ways that are harmless to the environment.
The study of chemical mineralogy has been a major source of information within Earth Sciences for more than a century, as minerals actively record geological processes during and after their formation. Atom probe tomography (APT) has been recently added to the currently available techniques for the characterization of minerals. This technique can provide fundamental information about mineral chemistry at atomic scale and offers the additional possibility of analyzing information in 3D for nanoscale volumes of material. Despite a rising interest on APT in Geosciences, the use of this novel analytical technique is still very limited. Funding for this proposal will be used to develop and optimize the technique of atom probe tomography for high-resolution geochemical characterization of minerals of importance in geological studies. This work is expected to help geologists better link mineralogy and geochemistry with regards to the following aspects: i) Diffusion kinetics in minerals (volume, grain-boundary, trace elements, etc.); ii) Element partitioning; iii) Isotopic fractionation; iv) Mineral dissolution and recrystallization; and v) Transformation of transient amorphous phases into crystalline counterparts. Funding will be also used to train a new generation of geoscientists in nanogeochemistry and to provide access to geologists across the United States to our APT facilities at the University of Alabama through direct research partnerships and institutional collaborations.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
