Details of Award
NERC Reference : NE/T008873/1
Instant geochemistry from mountain tops to the mid ocean ridges: X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) Spectroscopy on the move
Grant Award
- Principal Investigator:
- Dr S E MacLachlan, National Oceanography Centre, Science and Technology
- Co-Investigator:
- Dr B Lehrmann, National Oceanography Centre, Science and Technology
- Co-Investigator:
- Mr C Storey, National Oceanography Centre, National Marine Facilities
- Co-Investigator:
- Dr A Lichtschlag, National Oceanography Centre, Science and Technology
- Grant held at:
- National Oceanography Centre, Science and Technology
- Science Area:
- Earth
- Freshwater
- Marine
- Terrestrial
- Overall Classification:
- Unknown
- ENRIs:
- Biodiversity
- Environmental Risks and Hazards
- Global Change
- Natural Resource Management
- Pollution and Waste
- Science Topics:
- Earth Resources
- Geohazards
- Palaeoenvironments
- Quaternary Science
- Sediment/Sedimentary Processes
- Abstract:
- Non-destructive, high-resolution, sediment and rock core scanners incorporating XRF spectrometry and other sensors are a key technique in petroleum, mining and environmental industrial applications and are now widely used in the earth and environmental sciences. They have radically improved our capability to understand naturally occurring and man-made processes in the terrestrial and marine environments. What is currently missing is an adaptive system that can provide instant geochemical compositions, including rare-earth elements (REEs), of hand specimens and sediment cores within field and laboratory situations. Furthermore, immediate analyses in the field may allow strategic changes to sample collection and site selection based upon geochemical results in the field. Such equipment provides precise and accurate field measurements that can represent primary data or be used to inform later laboratory protocols. NERC science currently does not have access to the market leading Olympus XRF Vanta M, the only sensor with REE capability that can be integrated with the Geotek Multi-Sensor Core Logger (MCSL). This instrument will allow BOSCORF to facilitate simultaneous XRF and geophysical properties analysis of sediments and other environmental samples and will further enhance BOSCORF's internationally recognised reputation of excellence. The addition of a Vanta system will substantially fill an analytical gap to significantly extend workflow. The seagoing-component of the XRF will introduce new opportunities to the science party and will allow a more efficient use of ship time (one day at sea costing ~#35k; #100 per laboratory analysis). Currently, the majorities of samples taken at sea are laboratory analysed post expedition. Thus, repeat expeditions are necessary to further investigate the field site, which is an expensive and time-consuming process for the scientists as well as for the funding agency. Near-real to real time assessment of rock and sediment compositions with a portable XRF will provide a dynamic decision support while being in the field, i.e. sampling strategies can be orientated towards the most promising targets, resulting in a cost and time efficient field campaign with maximum output for budget and science. The MSCL systems at BOSCORF enable a suite of geophysical measurements to be obtained rapidly, accurately and automatically on sediment or rock cores. Only Olympus portable XRFs can be integrated with the Geotek MSCL-XYZ system that BOSCORF currently has. No other portable XRF can be installed for automated sediment/rock core logging and combined with physical property sensors. MSCL-XYZ is a unique automated multi-core logging system for undertaking various surface core measurements. By adding the Vanta to this system multiple core sections (up to seven 1.5 m core sections), can be loaded onto the workstation, which are then logged in a single operation. This provides low user interaction system to collect high quality data rapidly. XRF System advances include: 1. The Olympus Vanta M will include a high kV source (up to 50 kV) offering the ability to obtain information on the REEs that are not possible from many other portable XRFs on the market. 2. The Olympus Vanta series benefits from market-leading signal processing technology called "Axon". Axon technology is a software development that optimises the detector to provide higher X-ray counts per second and faster results. This will allow users to operate on a typical 15 second analysis time.
- NERC Reference:
- NE/T008873/1
- Grant Stage:
- Completed
- Scheme:
- Capital
- Grant Status:
- Closed
- Programme:
- Capital Call
This grant award has a total value of £108,299
FDAB - Financial Details (Award breakdown by headings)
| DI - Equipment |
|---|
| £108,299 |
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