9318684 Chamberlain This award provides one-half the funds required to purchase a high-sensitivity, stable isotope ratio mass spectrometer system to be installed and operated in the Department of Earth Sciences at Dartmouth College. The College is committed to providing the remaining funds necessary for the equipment acquisition. The mass spectrometer system will be capable of analyzing very small samples in the micromole range, a capability that is necessary when the spectrometer is operated in conjunction with a laser extraction line for microsampling of small mineral grains. Research projects of the principal investigator and colleagues that will make use of the mass spectrometer system include investigations of fluid flow processes in large metamorphic complexes, relating the isotopic composition of microtektites and glasses from the Cretaceous- Tertiary boundary to their possible impact target rocks, and using the isotopic composition of mineral to explain the ore forming processes that form mineral deposits. ***
