This award provides 50% funding required for the acquisition of a direct-coupled plasma spectrometer to be installed and operated in the Department of Geology at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. The University of North Carolina is committed to providing the remaining funds necessary. The instrument will be used primarily in the analysis of geological samples such as igneous rocks, sedimentary rocks, sediments, and pore waters. The Principal Investigator, on-campus colleagues, and colleagues from Duke University and North Carolina State University are expected to be the most frequent users. Many of these investigators are actively involved in research projects supported by the National Science Foundation for studies in igneous petrogenesis, continental evolution, sedimentology, chemical alteration of sediments, paleoceanography, and environmental geology.
