NSF Grant EAR-0732380, "Technician Support: Arizona Radiogenic Helium Dating Lab and HR-ICP-MS Lab," provided partial support for a Laboratory Manager and Technician, from 2008-2013, for two laboratories in the Department of Geosciences at the University of Arizona. During this time these labs supported the geologic research of more than two hundred scientists including 1) researchers who visited the labs from around the United States and other countries, 2) collaborators from other institutions and industry partners internationally, and 3) students, postdoctoral fellows, and other researchers at the University of Arizona. During this time, the Lab Manager oversaw facilities maintenance and efficient sample analyses and experiments in geochronology and geochemistry. More specifically, over the course of the project the Lab Manager 1) oversaw measurement of geochronologic dates on more than twelve thousand mineral specimens, 2) trained users of the facility in mass spectrometry, ultra-high-vacuum technology, and other analytical approaches, 3) assisted with several summer workshops for visiting students learning about geochronology and geology, and 4) developed new methods for geochemical analyses of diverse geologic materials. This project led to publication of more than 50 peer-reviewed publications on experimental results from the supported labs. Many of the research projects supported by this grant focused on studies of mountain-building, landscape evolution, mineral deposits, and the use of a specific kind of geochronology--thermochronology--to understand time-temperature histories of rocks and minerals in order to understand geologic processes. Just a few of the findings arising from this grant include 1) a better understanding of how the central Andes mountains were built over the last 40 million years, 2) how glaciers rapidly carved deep fjords in East Antarctica before that continent became more than 98% covered by ice, but 3) how glaciers in the Patagonian Andes protect the landscape and lead to higher mountains there, 4) a reconstruction of the history of natural underground coal fires and landscape evolution in northeastern Wyoming over the last three million years, 5) the history of uplift and rock deformation in Tibet and the Himalayas as a result of Indo-Asian collision, and 6) how minerals formed in faults and fractures of bedrock can be used to understand the timing of fault movement and near-surface fluid flow. In addition to supporting the Lab Manager/Technician, this project also indirectly made possible the support of numerous undergraduate student employees in the labs, the research of many graduate students at the University of Arizona and elsewhere, and the training of many students and other collaborators in analytical geochemistry.

Last Modified: 04/17/2013
Modified by: Peter W Reiners