RAPID: Transport and Revitalization of Nu Instruments Noblesse Mass Spectrometer

This project will transport and refurbish a decommissioned noble gas multi-collector mass spectrometer that would be salvaged if not acquired promptly. The noble gases (He, Ne, Ar, Kr, Xe) provide unique tracers that are important for understanding geologic and astronomic processes. The researcher is most interested in using noble gases to determine the ages and histories of impact cratering on samples from Earth and other planetary samples like meteorites or rocks returned by Apollo astronauts. The ages of these samples tell us about the environments under which life first emerged on our planet and the role that meteorite impacts have played in its subsequent evolution. Additionally, many of the meteorites we have to study are collected by the NSF-funded ANSMET program. Noble gas analyses are a key measurement for pairing meteorites together and determining their origins. Lastly, there is a growing need across geoscience and planetary disciplines for new noble gas laboratories as legacy labs/researchers are aging out, hence this is a timely instrument transfer. To further address this need, this proposal aims to create a facility that will be a center for training the next generation of geoscience and planetary scientists. The main goals of this project are to transport and revitalize a decommissioned Noblesse HR 3M1F mass spectrometer system, which includes a diode laser and custom extraction line to the University of Colorado, Boulder for noble gas measurements. The refurbished instrument acquisition brings new capabilities to the CU Boulder and the Rocky Mountain region, including isotopic analyses of the heavy noble gases, cosmogenic noble gas nuclides, and refined 40Ar/39Ar thermochronology of shocked samples. The initial applications to be developed are stable cosmogenic nuclides of Ar, Ne, Kr, and Xe, non-traditional zircon geochronology methods such as (U-Th)/Ne and (U-Pu)/Xe, and 40Ar/39Ar thermochronology of samples from terrestrial impact structures. The goal is to create a facility with expertise in these areas that is available as a community resource and will address the increasing need for noble gas and deep-time geochronology facilities. The researcher also plan to develop a course on geochemical and geochronology instrumentation that could be a model for alternatives to traditional field classes to help make geoscience degrees more accessible. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.