Award Abstract #0079721
Acquisition of a Laser Ablation Single Collector High Resolution Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer

NSF Org:	EAR Division of Earth Sciences
Initial Amendment Date:	August 21, 2000
Latest Amendment Date:	August 21, 2000
Award Number:	0079721
Award Instrument:	Standard Grant
Program Manager:	Russell C. Kelz EAR Division of Earth Sciences GEO Directorate for Geosciences
Start Date:	August 1, 2000
Expires:	July 31, 2003 (Estimated)
Awarded Amount to Date:	$287099
Investigator(s):	A. Mohamad Ghazi mghazi@gsu.edu (Principal Investigator) David Vanko (Co-Principal Investigator) W. Crawford Elliott (Co-Principal Investigator) Seth Rose (Co-Principal Investigator) Pamela Burnley (Co-Principal Investigator)
Sponsor:	Georgia State University Research Foundation, Inc. G-76 ALUMNI HALL 30 COURTLAND ST ATLANTA, GA 30303 404/413-3500
NSF Program(s):	MAJOR RESEARCH INSTRUMENTATION
Field Application(s):	0000099 Other Applications NEC
Program Reference Code(s):	OTHR,1189,0000
Program Element Code(s):	1189

ABSTRACT

0079721

Ghazi

This grant, made through the Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) Program, provides partial support of the costs of acquiring a magnetic sector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer equipped with a laser ablation microprobe (hereafter referred to as LA-HR-ICP-MS) for the Department of Geology at Georgia State University. The new high resolution instrument offers increased sensitivity and lower detection limits for the analysis of trace elements in solution or contained in ablated particulates than the current and no longer manufactured quadrupole-based instrument at Georgia State. An excimer laser system operating in the deep UV (193 nm wavelength) will provide for better coupling with relatively translucent minerals (i.e. quartz) than do Nd-YAG lasers, offers a finer spot size and more stable energy profile across the beam width, and offers the ability to raster the laser beam. The LA-HR-ICP-MS system offers the potential to substantially improve the quality and quantity of measurements of trace element abundances contained within fluid inclusions, the specialty of this group at Georgia State. The new ICP-MS facility will also continue a long standing tradition of open use as an analytical facility serving the southeastern U.S. both for academic needs and use by industrial collaborators from Atlanta-based Lucent Technologies. This academic-industrial collaborative effort has resulted in a symbiotic relationship between the Georgia State Geology Department and Lucent Technologies, with Lucent providing financial support for operation of the lab and educational experiences for students and with Georgia State providing trained graduates for Lucent's workforce.

Specific research projects in the geosciences that will utilize this new facility include: studies of the petrogenesis of Tethyan ophiolites exposed in Iran to better understand the process of oceanic crustal formation; rare earth element studies of pegmatite mineral-hosted fluid inclusions to shed light on water-rock interaction and its role in the formation of metalliferous deposits; trace element partitioning in high pressure experimental charges to elucidate the geochemical evolution of exposed metamorphic facies; and trace element analysis of groundwater samples from coastal plain aquifers of the southeastern U.S. as indicators of problematic salt-water intrusions caused by over pumping of fresh groundwater resources for agricultural and municipal needs.

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