| NSF Org: |
EAR Division Of Earth Sciences |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | August 10, 2015 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | July 31, 2016 |
| Award Number: | 1532276 |
| Award Instrument: | Continuing Grant |
| Program Manager: |
David Lambert
EAR Division Of Earth Sciences GEO Directorate for Geosciences |
| Start Date: | August 15, 2015 |
| End Date: | July 31, 2018 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $540,000.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $540,000.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
FY 2016 = $140,000.00 |
| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
1156 HIGH ST SANTA CRUZ CA US 95064-1077 (831)459-5278 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
CA US 95064-1077 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): |
Major Research Instrumentation, Instrumentation & Facilities |
| Primary Program Source: |
01001617DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT |
| Program Reference Code(s): | |
| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.050 |
ABSTRACT
This award funds the acquisition of a new Thermal Ionization Mass Spectrometer (TIMS) to be integrated into the W.M. Keck Isotope Laboratory at the University of California, Santa Cruz. The TIMS will be co-located within the recently renovated climate-controlled laboratory and wet chemistry clean labs needed for the preparation of geologic samples for isotopic analysis. The reopening of this open-user facility will catalyze new research and provide the tools needed to train undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral researchers in the use of high precision isotopic methodologies. The Earth and Planetary Science department, which is one of the largest Earth Science department?s in the country with over a 150 majors, has a population representative of the student body which includes over 40% from underrepresented ethnic backgrounds and a first year class made up of 41% of first generation college students. Outreach from this award includes a mini-grants program, available to internal and external users, to support exploratory and developmental research.
This facility will allow high precision U-Pb and U-series geochronologic dating with research applied to the origin and evolution of the continental and oceanic crust, the dynamics of volcanic systems and the timing and rate of glaciations and climatic change. Additional capabilities include measurements of the Sr, Ca, Nd, and Pb isotope systems, which are applied by UCSC Earth and Marine scientists to reconstruct variations in paleo-seawater in response to changes in tectonic uplift, climate, biogeochemical cycling and ocean circulation. UCSC paleontologists and ecologists use these same tools to study food web dynamics and foraging ranges of organisms in the present and past.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
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PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
Geologic, planetary and ocean sciences provide information on Earth processes both past and present, knowledge that can aid projections of Earth’s future. These fields rely on the extraction of information from our natural surroundings that includes the chemical and isotopic makeup of Earth materials. This area of study, isotope geochemistry, utilizes the natural isotopic variation of different elements to discover, for example, the origins and age of Earth materials, the history and current mechanisms operating within our oceans and ice caps, or how and when planetary bodies first formed. This NSF funded project supported the purchase and installation of a new Thermal Ionization Mass Spectrometer at the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC). This instrument is designed to produce high-precision isotopic measurements on trace metals extracted from naturally occurring materials. The UCSC lab specializes in applications using U-Pb and U-series geochronology. U-Pb geochronologic investigations include applications to meteorites in effort to reconstruct the timing, structure and size of our solar systems’ earliest forming planetary bodies. Other applications include dating volcanic events to access volcanic hazards as well as the climatic impact of large-scale eruptions in Earth’s past. U-series geochronologic investigations are used to probe the processes operating at the base of glaciers. This instrument is also used for applications in ocean and environmental science, anthropology and forensics by using Sr, Pb or Nd isotopic variations as tracers that, for example, track the composition of Earth’s oceans in response to tectonic, climatic and biologic changes. The installation of this equipment has supported the research of a number of faculty, post-doctoral and visiting researchers at UCSC. It is also supports the education and training of graduate student researchers and undergraduate assistants.
Last Modified: 08/08/2018
Modified by: Terrence Blackburn
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