9418519 Grove This award provides partial funding (74% of total cost) for an upgrade to the geochronology laboratory operated in the Department of Earth and Space Sciences at the University of California at Los Angeles. The institution is committed to providing the remaining funds necessary to carry out the project. The upgrade will result in the automation of the noble gas mass spectrometer operation and its associated gas extraction line used primarily for geochronology with the 40argon/39argon technique. The UCLA geochronology laboratory is involved in several on-campus research projects as well as collaborations with off-campus scientists that require the high sample throughput capabilities that will be achieved by this upgrade. ***