Cosmogenic Isotope Laboratory
The recently updated University of Maine Cosmogenic Isotope Laboratory is housed in the Sawyer Environmental Research Building. The facility brings the capabilities to prepare targets and mineral separates for 10Be and 3He dating in support of earth science. Our lab prepares 10Be samples for low-level isotope analysis by accelerator mass spectrometry. We are set up to take 10Be samples from hand sample to cathode in our facility. After rocks are crushed and sieved, they move to our ‘dirty’ mineral separation area, where they are purified to clean quartz. Beryllium extraction from the quartz takes place in a separate clean room. Targets are processed at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory accelerator. Full procedural blanks typically return 10/9Be ratios on the order of 10-16.
The laboratory has been calibrated using CRONUS standards and has yielded results within the normal range of a laboratory intercalibration study (Jull et al., 2013). Our laboratory also has been cross-calibrated with the University of Washington using an internal standard.
Jull, A.J.T., Scott, E.M., and Bierman, P., 2013. The CRONUS-Earth intercomparison for cosmogenic isotope analysis. Quatenary Geochronology, in press.
Methods
People
Dr. Brenda Hall Professor of Glacial and Quaternary Geology; websites School of Earth and Climate Sciences, Climate Change Institute
Dr. Gordon Bromley Research Assistant Professor; websites School of Earth and Climate Sciences, Climate Change Institute
Dr. Aaron Putnam Assistant Professor website Climate Change Institute, Research group
Peter Strand Graduate Student; website Research group
Maraina Miles Graduate Student; website Research group
Tess Walther Graduate Student; website Research group
Laura Mattas Undergraduate Student; website Research group