Equipment: MRI Track 1 Acquisition of an X-ray Microdiffraction System to Identify Crystalline Materials for Education, Research, and Museum Conservation

This is a project to acquire a multi-purpose X-ray diffractometer for microdiffraction at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH). The instrument is critical to curation and research dissemination of specimens in the collections of the AMNH, because only the smallest fragment or surface of a small artifact is needed to characterize the specimen.

As the collections serve the scientific community, accurate characterization is a service to society. The new XRmD system will be used by scientists and conservators, and by students at all levels, at the American Museum of Natural History, City University of New York, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory/Columbia University, and other potential users in the region.

Numerous projects by more than eight investigators are planned initially for a new microdiffraction instrument. Targets of study include diverse micas and serpentines metamorphic rocks and ophiolites, weathering of and carbon behavior in peridotites exposed in the aerial and subaerial environment, minerals as standards for spectroscopic techniques from Raman to astronomical spectra, a variety of minerals in different meteorites, and calcium carbonate polymorphs in marine organisms.

To advance the science of the preservation and conservation of art and natural history objects, microdiffraction studies will be carried out on chemical pesticide residues, pigments, and mineralization in fossils. XRmD will be used routinely to identify samples from the mineral, rock, and meteorite collections to improve their characterization and value to the scientific community and the public.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.