This grant provides two years partial salary support for a technician to maintain and operate the VG Sector 54 thermal ionization mass spectrometer (TIMS) in the Department of Earth and Planetary Science (EPS), Washington University - St. Louis. This is a phase II technician support grant and follows three years of initial Phase I support (EAR-9506697). As a condition of Phase II funding, Washington University has agreed to fully underwrite the salary for this technical position for a minimum of two years beyond the expiration of this award. This geochronology lab continues to produce high precision isotopic analyses within the U/Pb, Sm/Nd and Rb/Sr radiogenic systems. Current geochronologic studies of igneous and metamorphic rocks from Madagascar are providing valuable constraints on Neoproterozoic plate tectonics and the formation and subsequent breakup of Gondwanaland. ***
