SCEC Award Number 14192 View PDF
Proposal Category Collaborative Proposal (Data Gathering and Products)
Proposal Title Geochronology Infrastructure
Investigator(s)
Name Organization
Michael Oskin University of California, Davis John Southon University of California, Irvine Ed Rhodes University of California, Los Angeles Tom Guilderson Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Other Participants Tom Guilderson, Tammy Rittenour, Lewis Owen, John Southon, Ed Rhodes
SCEC Priorities 1a, 2a, 4a SCEC Groups Geology, WGCEP, SoSAFE
Report Due Date 03/15/2015 Date Report Submitted N/A
Project Abstract
 The geochronology infrastructure provides a community resource for SCEC researchers to draw from for their dating needs. It provides laboratory support and access to expertise for 14C, OSL (Optically Stimulated Luminescence) and cosmogenic 10Be and 26Al methods. By pooling resources, the infrastructure saves SCEC funds while simultaneously increasing flexibility. Researchers cannot precisely predict the amount of geochronology resources needed at the outset of a project. Instead, the SCEC RFP asks for an estimate of needs from each project, and then these needs are drawn from the infrastructure resources. The leader and co-leader of the Geology Disciplinary group coordinate these dating requests with the participating laboratories. This approach avoids wasting resources for the cases where a project ends up not needing as many dates as planned. Likewise, in other cases where important, higher-precision results could be obtained with more geochronology resources, the infrastructure budget allows SCEC to move quickly to take advantage the opportunity. Over the lifetime of SCEC3, funding of the geochronology infrastructure program at approximately 80% of requests has been sufficient to meet the collective needs of the SCEC research program, yielding an estimated savings around $90,000. Another advantage of the geochronology infrastructure program is that it streamlines collaboration with participating laboratories. SCEC PIs do not need to pay to run samples. Instead, laboratories charge a single master SCEC account. Under SCEC3, this arrangement brought the addition of the local UCI 14C lab to the program, which has grown quite popular within the community and has also brought new opportunities for students to participate in dating of their samples.
Intellectual Merit The geochronology infrastructure provides a community resource for SCEC researchers to draw from for their dating needs. It provides laboratory support and access to expertise for 14C, OSL (Optically Stimulated Luminescence) and cosmogenic 10Be and 26Al methods. By pooling resources, the infrastructure saves SCEC funds while simultaneously increasing flexibility. Researchers cannot precisely predict the amount of geochronology resources needed at the outset of a project. Instead, the SCEC RFP asks for an estimate of needs from each project, and then these needs are drawn from the infrastructure resources. This approach avoids wasting resources for the cases where a project ends up not needing as many dates as planned. Likewise, in other cases where important, higher-precision results could be obtained with more geochronology resources, the infrastructure budget allows SCEC to move quickly to take advantage the opportunity.
Broader Impacts Most laboratories offer opportunities for students to participate in sample preparation. Shared geochronology resources encourages collaboration and communication between SCEC researchers.
Exemplary Figure No figures in report