This award provides funds for 67% of the costs of acquiring a microscope system with a heating/cooling stage for the study of microscopic fluid inclusions in geological samples. The fluid inclusion system will be used by researchers in the Department of Geological Sciences at Case Western Reserve University. The University is to provide the remaining 33% of the costs. The Case Western Reserve University Department of Geological Sciences has a research program in sandstone diagenesis aimed at determining quantitatively the conditions and timing of the different stages of sandstone formation. The study of fluid inclusions in sandstone provides an independent and direct way to determine the temperature and salinity of the waters trapped during formation.
