The Netherlands state of the art Isotope Geochemistry Laboratory: NIGEL

The Netherlands state of the art Isotope GEochemistry Laboratory (NIGEL) will enable cutting edge multi-disciplinary research by Earth & planetary science, archaeology, forensic and cultural heritage research communities. Past improvements in our capability to analyse precise and accurate trace-element and isotopic compositions led to major breakthroughs in all these disciplines. Two new technologies promise a new analytical revolution. First, more sensitive mass spectrometer (MS) detection systems with amplifiers using 10^13 Ω resistors, pioneered at Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam (VU), allow analysis of smaller samples (<10 ng) opening innovative research directions where sample size is limited. Second, improvements in collision cell technology in inductively coupled plasma (ICP) instruments remove interfering elements and molecules from ions of interest. This development provides numerous possibilities to accurately measure isotopic compositions by laser ablation (LA) multi-collector (MC)-ICPMS. The timing of the NIGEL application is related to the installation of a new generation metal free clean laboratory at the VU (~€2.5 M) that will allow optimal exploitation of the new technologies and a marked increase in capacity. The latter is vital given the huge increase in demand for isotopic analysis from outside the traditional Earth & planetary science disciplines. Funding is requested for a MC thermal ionisation instrument and two MC-ICPMS, all fitted with 10^13 Ω resistor amplifiers. One MC-ICPMS with a collision cell will be dedicated for in-situ laser ablation work with a femtosecond laser. The second MC-ICPMS will be assigned to small sample size solution work. The femtosecond laser ablation system will split the ablated sample gas flow from a single ablation to allow simultaneous determination of isotopes, trace-elements (ICPMS) and major elements (ICP-OES). Two postdoctoral fellows are requested to assist with the start-up phase of the project, years 2 to 4. NIGEL will lead innovative research in four main directions: 1) Earth and planetary sciences 2) archaeology 3) cultural heritage 4) forensic science. The user community comprises ~80 individual researchers from 8 universities, 6 research institutes-museums and 4 European research infrastructures and collaborators from industry. The Earth and planetary science will focus on: i) element and isotope partitioning during planetary formation based on HPT experiments to understand the formation and differentiation of rocky (exo) planets; ii) use of Sr-Nd-Pb isotope and elemental variations in mantle and crustal rocks to quantify the geochemical cycles driven by plate tectonics; iii) analysis of Ca-Sr-Fe-Ba-Mg isotopes from experiments and natural samples to constrain the environment and timescale involved in the emergence of life. Archaeology will address questions of animal and human diet and migration, and the manufacture and provenance of metal artefacts to constrain trading and social networks. Cultural heritage will determine detailed biographies of individual artworks to address how socio-economic factors influenced the development of artistic methods to aid preservation strategies. Forensic research will conduct decomposition experiments to optimise application of multi-isotope techniques for provenancing unidentified human remains. This ambitious and multi-disciplinary research programme will help maintain the leading international position of the isotope geochemistry community of the Netherlands.