This project will support the development of Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) applications in the earth sciences at the Nuclear Structure Laboratory of the University of Rochester. Improvements in the sensitivity of the AMS technique for analyzing the isotopes chlorine-36, iodine-129, calcium-41 and osmium-186/187 will be a major focus of the project. Another product of the project will be the synthesis, in collaboration with the National Bureau of Standards, of accurate isotope concentration standards for chlorine and iodine. Accelerator Mass Spectrometry has developed into an important technique because it is in many cases the only method sensitive enough for the measurement of rare isotopes that can be used to date the age of geological events and to trace the transfer of matter within the Earth.
