Plasma emission spectrometry is a rapid and accurate method of chemical analysis for rocks and minerals which typically contain many elements in major, minor, and trace concentrations. The Department of Earth and Space Sciences at UCLA requests 50% of the cost of acquiring a plasma emission spectrometer system to replace their 23 year old X-ray fluorescence spectrometer that has been used for multielement chemical analysis in their departmental research programs. Ongoing research at UCLA requiring such analytical capabilities include field and laboratory interpretations of high-pressure metamorphic terranes and associated igneous rocks, lab studies of rocks derived from the earth's mantle, comparative geological and geochemical studies of vein-type and replacement-type ore deposits, large- scaled interpretations of mantle geochemistry and sedimentary basins, and cosmochemistry based on direct analysis of meteorites and lunar samples. Acquisition of the plasma emission spectrometer will allow a large user-base of geoscientists to carry out the necessary chemical analyses of a wide variety of geological samples.
