This award provides one-half the funds necessary to purchase the hardware components necessary to assemble extraction systems for obtaining hydrogen and oxygen samples from silicate rocks and minerals for isotope analysis. Construction of the extraction lines and their operation will be performed in the Department of Geology at Oregon State University, which will assume responsibility for the remaining costs of the project. The hydrogen and oxygen gas samples obtained from the new extraction lines will be analyzed in a mass spectrometer available in the School of Oceanography at Oregon State University. The isotope data are essential to characterize and understand large magma and hydrothermal systems in the continental crust.
