CFS (Track III): Northeast National Ion Microbe Facility (NENIMF) 2025-2028

This grant provides three years of funding to the Northeast National Ion Microprobe Facility (NENIMF) at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). The NENIMF operates a Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometer (SIMS) as a resource for earth, ocean, and planetary science research. SIMS measurements analyze solid materials with great precision.

The NENIMF SIMS measures the concentration and isotopic composition of light elements (hydrogen, lithium, boron, carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen). It supports research in two areas relevant to society, volcanoes and climate change. The SIMS can study the volatiles (dissolved gasses) found in magmas and examine climate signals in biogenic carbonates.

The NENIMF trains and assists users with performing analyses. Fifty-six scientists from 32 institutions used the NENIMF from 2022 to 2024, and over the last three decades NENIMF instrumentation has supported almost 400 studies.

The NENIMF uses a Cameca IMS 1280 double focusing mass spectrometer with a large radius magnetic sector (585 mm) and ion optics optimized to attain a mass resolving power (MRP=M/ΔM) of 6,000 without significant loss of secondary ion intensity. The IMS 1280 was recently upgraded with NSF support from single to multicollection with enhanced UV imaging capabilities.

In addition to the specialized microanalytical capabilities of the NENIMF, SIMS users are investigating B isotopes in Mid-Ocean Ridge Basalt glasses and subduction zone minerals, Zr in rutile geospeedometry, Ti diffusion in quartz, and U-Th-Pb dating of monazite and zircon. New analytical protocols recently developed at the NENIMF include measuring the concentrations of low abundance volatile elements in nominally anhydrous minerals, characterization of the isotopic composition of B at very low concentrations, measurement of volatiles in very small (< 10 µm diameter) melt inclusions, and development of isotope and concentration reference materials.

The NENIMF emphasizes student learning and training of undergraduates, graduate students, and post-doctoral researchers. It will continue to involve WHOI’s Undergraduate Summer Student Fellows, Post-doctoral Scholars, and WHOI/MIT Joint Program graduate students in SIMS-focused research projects. The NENIMF will run annual workshops to engage young scientists in SIMS-based research focused on magma volatiles, and it will conduct community outreach at scientific meetings.

The NENIMF will strive to make its analytical platforms accessible to many different users, and it will select and support a visiting summer student during each year of these operations.

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.