This grant provides partial support to the Department of Earth & Space Sciences at UCLA for the acquisition of a state-of-the-art electron microprobe (EMP) equipped with five wavelength dispersive spectrometers and capabilities for the analysis of light elements (Z < 9) and digital imaging of backscattered electrons. The new EMP will replace the current but antiquated (vintage 1984) Camebax EMP that is beginning to show signs of instrument failure (i.e. stage positioning drift, frequent computer control crashes and failing vacuum pumps). This state-of-the-art instrument will serve a large number of faculty including Craig Manning, Paul Warren, Frank Kyte, John Wasson, Mary Reid, Mark Harrison, Kevin McKeegan, Anne Yin and Alan Rubin for studies ranging from Himalayan tectonics to subduction zone metasomatism to chemical processes in the early solar system. Support for this acquisition is shared roughly equally between NSF, NASA and UCLA.
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