9420489 Asmerom This award provides partial (35%) funding for the acquisition of a thermal ionization source mass spectrometer to be installed and operated in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at the University of New Mexico. The institution is committed to providing the remaining funds necessary for the acquisition. Recent developments in mass spectrometry and actinide chemistry have made the acquisition of high-quality data possible for a variety of earth materials. The new mass spectrometer system will be used in research on crust-mantle dynamics, chronology of magma evolution under the continents, and continental paleoclimatology. ***
