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Our knowledge of processes operating on Earth and the Solar system - today and in the past - steadily increases via novel theoretical concepts, observations and experimental results. Especially the latter benefit from the development and application of advanced analytical methods with ever better detection limits, higher precision or greater spatial resolution. In the geosciences, these especially include the fields of isotopic and (trace) element analysis.

Isotope methods are used for dating of geological materials using radioactive decay systems (Müller, Aerden, & Halliday, 2000; Gerdes & Zeh, 2009; Marschall et al., 2010). Trace element and isotopic signatures in rocks, minerals and other materials can be used as a ‘fingerprint’ to determine their source or formation processes (Marschall & Jiang, 2011; Marschall et al., 2017). Equally, isotopic or elemental signatures are increasingly used as ‘proxies’ for past environmental parameters such as temperature, pH, salinity etc (Evans et al., 2018; Marschall & Foster, 2018). Hence, isotope and trace element analyses have now become widely applicable in the geosciences and closely related disciplines. Apart from geosciences, applications are increasingly becoming important for example in solid-state physics, life sciences, environmental sciences, anthropology, archaeometry and in archaeology.

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These developments have motivated the establishment of the cross-departmental Frankfurt Isotope and Element Research Center FIERCE.

Typically, bulk samples are analysed, such as natural waters or fluids or dissolved solids. Apart from these solution-based analyses, spatially-resolved (‘in situ’) analysis of isotope ratios and trace element concentrations in solids is becoming increasingly important. This is especially true through the rapid technical development and spread of laser-based methods over the past 15 years (Gerdes & Zeh, 2006; Müller et al 2009; Müller & Fietzke, 2016; Sylvester & Jackson, 2016; Delavault et al., 2018).

FIERCE operates well-equipped state-of-the-art laboratories at the Institut für Geowissenschaften (IfG, FB11) of Goethe-Universität Frankfurt. These include different mass spectrometers as well as cleanroom laboratories (class 10) and various sample preparation rooms. FIERCE specializes in plasma mass spectrometry (ICPMS, MC-ICPMS), i.e. those with single and multiple detection systems. Modern laser ablation systems for spatially-resolved trace-element and isotope analysis form crucial peripherals for our plasma mass spectrometers. Thermal ionization mass spectrometry (TIMS) is also available.

FIERCE is financially supported by the Wilhelm and Else Heraeus Foundation and by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, INST 161/921-1 FUGG and INST 161/923-1 FUGG), which is gratefully acknowledged

References:

Delavault H, Dhuime B Hawkesworth CJ Marschall HR (2018) Laser-Ablation MC-ICP-MS lead isotope microanalysis down to 10 µm: Application to K-feldspar inclusions within zircon. Journal of Analytical and Atomic Spectrometry, 2018, 33: 195–204 [doi 10.1039/C7JA00276A]

Evans D, Sagoo N, Renema W, Cotton LJ, Müller W, Todd JA, Saraswati PK, Stassen P, Ziegler M, Pearson PN, Valdes PJ & Affek HP (2018) Eocene greenhouse climate revealed by coupled clumped isotope-Mg/Ca thermometry. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 115 (6): 1174-1179. [doi 10.1073/pnas.1714744115]

Gerdes A, Zeh A (2006) Combined U–Pb and Hf isotope LA-(MC-)ICP-MS analyses of detrital zircons: Comparison with SHRIMP and new constraints for the provenance and age of an Armorican metasediment in Central Germany. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 249 (1-2): 47–61. [doi 10.1016/j.epsl.2006.06.039]

Gerdes A, Zeh A (2009) Zircon formation versus zircon alteration — New insights from combined U–Pb and Lu–Hf in-situ LA-ICP-MS analyses, and consequences for the interpretation of Archean zircon from the Central Zone of the Limpopo Belt. Chemical Geology, 261 (3-4): 230–343. [doi 10.1016/j.chemgeo.2008.03.005]

Marschall HR, Jiang S-Y (2011) Tourmaline isotopes: no element left behind. Elements 7 95): 313–319. [doi 10.2113/gselements.7.5.313]

Marschall HR, Foster GL (2018) Boron Isotopes: The Fifth Element. Advances in Isotope Geochemistry (Springer book series), ISBN: 978-3-319-64664-0; 351 pages [Springer link]

Marschall HR, Hawkesworth CJ, Storey CD, Dhuime B, Leat PT, Meyer H-P, Tamm-Buckle S (2010) The Annandagstoppane granite, East Antarctica: evidence for Archean intracrustal recycling in the Kaapvaal-Grunehogna Craton from zircon O and Hf isotopes. Journal of Petrology, 51 (11): 2277–2301. [doi: 10.1093/petrology/egq057]

Marschall HR, Wanless VD, Shimizu N, Pogge von Strandmann PAE, Elliott T, Monteleone BD (2017) The boron and lithium isotopic composition of mid-ocean ridge basalts and the mantle. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 207: 102–138. [doi 10.1016/j.gca.2017.03.028]

Müller W, Aerden D & Halliday AN (2000) Isotopic dating of strain fringe increments: Duration and rates of deformation in shear zones. Science, 288 (5474), 2195-2198. [doi 10.1126/science.288.5474.2195]

Müller W & Fietzke J (2016) The Role of LA–ICP–MS in Palaeoclimate Research. Elements, 12 (5), 329-334. [doi 10.2113/gselements.12.5.329]

Müller W, Shelley M, Miller P & Broude S (2009) Initial performance metrics of a new custom-designed ArF excimer LA-ICPMS system coupled to a two-volume laser-ablation cell. Journal Analytical Atomic Spectrometry, 24, 209-214. [doi 10.1039/B805995K]

Sylvester PJ & Jackson SE (2016) A brief history of laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA–ICP–MS). Elements, 12 (5), 307-310. [doi 10.2113/gselements.12.5.307]