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GSECARS is a national user facility for frontier research in the earth sciences using synchrotron radiation at the Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory.

GSECARS provides earth scientists with access to the high-brilliance hard x-rays from this third-generation synchrotron light source. All principal synchrotron-based analytical techniques in demand by earth scientists are being brought to bear on earth science problems:

• High-pressure/high-temperature crystallography and spectroscopy using the diamond anvil cell
• High-pressure/high-temperature crystallography and imaging using the large-volume press
• Powder, single crystal and interface diffraction
• Inelastic x-ray scattering
• X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy
• X-ray fluorescence microprobe analysis
• Microtomography
  

GSECARS Benchtop SEM

GSECARS now has a JEOL Neoscope 6000PLUS scanning electron microscope available to GSECARS users in support of beamline experiments. Users interested in using the SEM should:

1) Submit an ESAF for use of the SEM or, if you have beamtime scheduled at GSECARS, make sure you note use of the SEM in your experiment ESAF. All materials intended to be examined must be listed and pre-approved. 
2) Check with beamline staff to make sure the date for use is available and to have the time reserved on the SEM schedule. All use must be scheduled.
3) Prior to use, all operators MUST be trained by beamline staff on use of the instrument, must have read the available Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the instrument and certify they understand the SOP and agree to fully comply with the stated procedures. Click for SOP.

For information, please contact :
Tony Lanzirotti, lanzirotti@uchicago.edu.

GSECARS Raman Lab

Users interested in using the GSE Raman Lab:

1) Fill out the Raman Lab Reservation Form. 
2) Check to make sure the date is available (multiple users may be able to use the system on the same day)             Raman Lab Calendar
3) Submit an ESAF for use of the GSE Raman Lab or if you have beamtime at GSECARS, make sure you note use of Raman Lab in your experiment ESAF.

For information, please contact :
Vitali Prakapenka, prakapenka@cars.uchicago.edu
Eran Greenberg, erangre@gmail.com

Raman Lab Documentation

Science Highlights

Researchers at 13 BMC investigated the dissolution of otavite films grown epitaxially on dolomite (104) surfaces in aqueous solutions to understand the relationships between strain, film thickness, and dissolution rate.

ABSTRACT: Thin films grown on mineral surfaces can immobilize toxic metals in natural systems, but the effects of epitaxy and film thickness on dissolution rates of the overgrowth are typically unknown. To explore these effects, otavite (CdCO3) films were grown on dolomite (104) surfaces from aqueous solutions containing [Cd] = [Ca] = [CO3] = 0.2 mM for 1−48 h and then dissolved in deionized water. Films of various thicknesses and strain states were obtained by varying the growth reaction time. Growth for up to 3 h produced strained thin films with Cd coverages of <4.3 ± 0.6 equivalent monolayers (ML) (corresponding to a thickness of up to 17 Å), whereas reaction times of up to 48 h produced thicker films with as many as 114 ± 14 equivalent ML of Cd. Intrinsic dissolution rates were measured as a function of otavite film thickness by a combination of synchrotron X-ray fluorescence, specular X-ray reflectivity, and atomic force microscopy. The initial dissolution rates for unstrained films were comparable to those reported for synthetic otavite powders, whereas the thinnest films (<3.1 ± 1.1 ML) dissolved at a 50% slower rate, indicating that epitaxial strain effectively
enhanced their stability. We discuss potential reasons for this difference.

Erika Callagon La Plante, Sang Soo Lee, Peter J. Eng, Joanne E. Stubbs, Paul Fenter, Neil C. Sturchio, and Kathryn L. Nagy (2019) Dissolutio Kinetics of Epitaxial Cadmium Carbonate Overgrowths on Dolomite, ACS Earth and Space Chemistry 2019 3 (2), 212- 220, DOI:10.1021/acsearthspacechem.8b00115

Researchers at 13 IDE, lead by Guilherme Gualda from Vanderbilt University, looked into understanding magma body organization and evolution with time which may ultimately be relevant to hazard assessment.CL image and Ti map shown in (A) demonstrate the correlation between CL intensity and Ti contents in quartz when there are large changes in CL; it can be seen that CL images capture the zoning in more detail, justifying the use of CL images for crystallization time and growth rate determination.

Abstract : Very large eruptions (>50 km³) and supereruptions (>450 km³) reveal Earth’s capacity to produce and store enormous quantities (>1000 km³) of crystal-poor, eruptible magma in the shallow crust. We explore the interplay between crustal evolution and volcanism during a volcanic flare-up in the Taupo Volcanic Zone (TVZ, New Zealand) using a combination of quartz-feldspar-melt equilibration pressures and time scales of quartz crystallization. Over the course of the flare-up, crystallization depths became progressively shallower, showing the gradual conditioning of the crust. Yet, quartz crystallization times were invariably very short (<100 years), demonstrating that very large reservoirs of eruptible magma were transient crustal features. We conclude that the dynamic nature of the TVZ crust favored magma eruption over storage. Episodic tapping of eruptible magmas likely prevented a supereruption. Instead, multiple very large bodies of eruptible magma were assembled and erupted in decadal time scales.

Gualda, G.A.R., Gravely, D.M., Hollman, B., Pamukcu, A.S., Begue, F., Ghiorso, M.S., Deering, C.D., (2018) Climbing the crustal ladder : Magma storage-depth evolution dueing a volvcanic flare-up. Sci. Adv. 4, eaap 7567 DOI : 10.1126/sciadv.aap7567