This Division of Earth Sciences Instrumentation and Facilities Program award supports acquisition of a scanning electron microscope (SEM) to be housed in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at University of Rochester. The SEM is capable of revealing minerals features and chemical composition at the micron-scale with magnification up to 100,000x and will be equipped with an energy dispersive spectrometer which permits spatially resolved compositional analysis. The SEM will be used to investigate the chemistry of synthetic minerals grown in the laboratory that seek to mimic mineral growth phenomena occurring in nature. The SEM will be small format and portable enabling student training in Earth and manmade materials characterization within classroom settings. Local outreach targeted at K-12 teacher training will also benefit from the acquisition.
The SEM will support research in experimental igneous petrology including trace element mineral-melt partitioning studies, equilibrium isotope fractionation studies of synthetic and natural minerals, development of crystallization thermobarometers and oxygen fugacity determination methods The instrument will also support other University of Rochester laboratories including: (i) the laboratory for isotope geochemistry which performs measurements of radiogenic and stable isotope compositions of rocks and minerals to better understand history of Earth?s silicate reservoirs; (ii) the structural geology group who study the evolution of mountain belts at many different scales including microstructural analysis of cataclasites and mylonites to understand deformation mechanisms and kinematic evolution; and (iii) the paleomagnetic research group that focuses on the measurement of magnetic remanence (bulk magnetic properties, natural remanent magnetization) of a variety of materials.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
