This award provides 56% of the funds required for the acquisition of a thermal ionization mass spectrometer that will be installed and operated at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California in San Diego. The remaining 44% of the cost of the instrument will be provided by the institution. The instrument will be capable of analyzing both positive and negative ions and will have a mass resolution in excess of 430 so that systematics of the isotope geochemistry of boron can be investigated. The scientific questions to be resolved with boron isotope analysis include: (1) seawater-ocean crust chemical interchange, (2) the history of seawater composition, (3) the cycling of volatiles between the mantle and oceans, and (4) diagenesis of sediments.
