9628440 Carmichael This grant provides $124,800 as partial support of the costs of acquiring an X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometer with wavelength dispersive (WDS) detection to increase both the range of elements detectable and to provide lower detection limits for major, minor and trace elemental analyses of geological samples over the present analytical capabilities of their XRF equipped with an energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS) which is suffering from prolonged use and for which replacement parts are no longer kept in stock. This new XRF will allow this group to continue their high quality active research program in a wide range of interdisciplinary areas including igneous petrology, economic geology, crystallography and archaeology. Specific research projects will include the geochemical characterization of erupted lavas within the Jalisco Block of Western Mexico as petrogenetic indicators in this tectonically independent segment of continental crust, pedogenic and surficial geochemical studies as indicators of paleoclimates and for characterization of the major, minor and trace element geochemistry of intrusive and extrusive igneous samples for which isotopic analyses will also be conducted. ***
