9304133 Ryan This award provides one-half the funding required for the acquisition of a direct current plasma emission spectrometer (DCP) system to be installed and operated in the Department of Geology at the University of South Florida in Tampa. The University is committed to providing the remaining funds needed for the acquisition. The DCP will be an integral part of the research activities of several faculty members and their students who require high precision elemental chemical analyses of geological rock and water samples. Their current investigations include geochemical studies of volcanic and metamorphic rocks from subduction zones, fluid- rock interactions during diagenesis of sediments, paleoclimate reconstructions from biotic carbonates, and the geological record of sea-level changes. ***
