Grant: Research Tools and Instruments

The history of the Earth and the rocky planets is written in rocks. But many aspects of how and why the Earth and planets formed and have been transformed over the millennia remain a mystery because the language in which these secrets are written is not well understood. Mineralogy allows us to unlock these mysteries by better understanding how rocks form and are transformed. So we require state- of- the art equipment to study the mineralogy of Earth and planetary materials to learn Earth's secrets. Funds are urgently requested from NSERC RTI to purchase a modern benchtop powder X--ray diffractometer (pXRD) to replace two 30 -year -old instruments in the Department of Earth Sciences. These instruments are well beyond their normal life expectancy, barely operational, and lack the resolution, speed, sample handling and data collection capabilities of modern pXRDs. The Bruker D2 PHASER instrument requested is a novel all-in-one benchtop pXRD that comes loaded with easy-to-use software that allows measurement and analysis by researchers and students alike. The LYNXEYE XE-T Detector detects X-rays ~450 times faster, with increased intensity, and high resolution providing high sensitivity and data quality. Along with the detector, its minimal electrical power consumption (650 W), ultra-compact goniometer, and no need for cooling water or PC peripherals make it a user-friendly, portable, benchtop instrument with high analytical performance and function. We will integrate the new pXRD into a centralized core facility to encourage optimal sharing among individual investigators and research groups, including properly trained undergraduate and graduate students, to foster a collaborative environment in the department. In this way, the purchase becomes cost-efficient, and beneficial to not only the primary applicants, but also the 25 full-time faculty, >20 active adjunct research professors, collaborators from across Western, Canada, and internationally, and a group of over >200 diverse and inclusive HQP. Access to analytical instrumentation previously limited to “experts” will provide HQP with hands-on experience and the opportunity to work side-by-side with collaborators and industry partners which is crucial for successful development as geoscientists. The new instrument will support a diverse set of Earth Sciences research programs with a common thread they all need mineralogy to understand and interpret the natural world. High- quality pXRD data will enable not only phase identification, but also Rietveld crystal structure refinement and quantitative mineral modal analysis. The results obtained with a new pXRD instrument will impact the training and research of a diverse array of Earth and planetary materials from the far reaches of the solar system and other planetary bodies to Earth from its surface processes, environment, and resources, to its mantle and core. Our continued innovative research will not be possible without a new pXRD!