This award will provide one-half of the funds required to purchase an inductively-coupled mass spectrometer (ICP-MS) and to develop the analytical procedures for the analysis of geological samples in the department of geological sciences at Cornell University. Cornell University is committed to providing the remaining one-half of the funds necessary. The ICP-MS technique uniquely combines an ability to measure concentration of an extremely wide range of elements, excellent sensitivity for trace quantities, and a high throughput for large numbers of samples. The instrument will be used for analysis of a broad suite of geological samples in research aimed at questions of mantle evolution, oceanic island and mid-ocean ridge magma genesis, fluxes of dissolved matter to seawater, island arc petrogenesis and ore mineral deposition.
