9601475 Wirth This grant, made through the Academic Research Infrastructure (ARI) Program, provides $110,000 as partial support of the costs of acquiring an X-ray fluorescence spectrometer (XRF) for geochemical analyses of igneous and metamorphic rocks, thin films and soils at Macalester College. A variety of research will be conducted by faculty in several departments at Macalester and by members of the Minnesota State Geological Survey and faculty at Lawrence University. Specific projects that will utilize XRF analyses will include the geochemical characterization of island arc and intraplate volcanics from Alaska as indicators of the tectonic evolution of this area, petrogenesis of Proterozoic dike swarms in the Midcontinental U.S., the geochemical evolution of Galapagos hotspot magmas, characterization of silicon and germanium-based thin films and trace metal geochemistry of soils. This grant provides this undergraduate institution with a state-of-the-art piece of research instrumentation which will have a significant impact on the training of and fills a regional gap where the capabilities of an XRF were previously not easily accessible. ***
