This award will provide for half the funds necessary to acquire an automated carbonate preparation system which will be attached to and integrated with an existing gas source isotope ratio mass spectrometer. The additional funds for this acquisition have been committed by the University of Colorado. The equipment will be used primarily by faculty and students in the Department of Geological Sciences and the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research(INSTAAR). The automated preparation system will make it possible to increase greatly the number of samples that can be processed,thereby lowering costs per sample. Research projects to be supported by this equipment cover a broad range of topics including paleoclimate studies,recent climate changes based on studies of corals,carbonate diagenesis,and Paleozoic paleooceanography.
