Evaluation of SIMS to measure N isotopes in soils
EMSL Project ID
1711
Abstract
Recent advances in cost and function of isotope ratio mass spectrometry have allowed insight into dynamic soil microbial processes associated with N cycling. However, minimum sample size often limits the scale at which useful information is attainable. We wish to increase our understanding of soil chemical processes at microbially meaningful scales. TOF-SIMS may be an ideal tool with which to accomplish this task. Objectives: 1. to determine if TOF-SIMS is capable of distinguishing and measuring N-isotopes of NH4+, NO3-, and microbially assimilated N 2. to use TOF-SIMS to measure N (NO3- and NH4+) concentration profiles in soil aggregates 3. to evaluate the capability of TOF-SIMS to detect 15NO3- assimilation products produced by native microbial populations in soil and to distinguish those products from 14N analogues 4. to measure spatial separation between production and consumption of NO3-
Project Details
Project type
Exploratory Research
Start Date
2000-01-03
End Date
2002-03-31
Status
Closed
Released Data Link
Team
Principal Investigator