Professors Marlina Elburg and Jan Kramers (Department of Geology, UJ) were successful in obtaining NRF funding for a multi-collector inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometer (MC-ICPMS) and laser ablation (LA) system through the National Equipment Program. This is state-of-the-art instrumentation, capable of determining the isotopic ratios of elements on a microscopic scale, or occurring as otherwise barely detectable traces. The laser ablation system is used to drill minute holes in solids, with the excavated material then being analyzed by the MC-ICPMS. For trace elements, solids need to be dissolved  and the elements of interest isolated; for this line of work there will be close collaboration with Dr Grant Bybee of the School of Geosciences at the University of the Witwatersrand, who is overseeing the development of a new ultraclean laboratory there.

Professors Marlina Elburg and Jan Kramers (Department of Geology, UJ) were successful in obtaining NRF funding for a multi-collector inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometer (MC-ICPMS) and laser ablation (LA) system through the National Equipment Program. This is state-of-the-art instrumentation, capable of determining the isotopic ratios of elements on a microscopic scale, or occurring as otherwise barely detectable traces. The laser ablation system is used to drill minute holes in solids, with the excavated material then being analyzed by the MC-ICPMS. For trace elements, solids need to be dissolved and the elements of interest isolated; for this line of work there will be close collaboration with Dr Grant Bybee of the School of Geosciences at the University of the Witwatersrand, who is overseeing the development of a new ultraclean laboratory there. 

Applications for MC-ICPMS-based research are wide-ranging and include such diverse topics as unravelling the geological history of the earth’s crust; helping to provide a time-line for human evolution; tracing the emergence of life and oxygenation of the atmosphere; assessing the processes involved in the generation of giant ore deposits such as those of the Bushveld Complex. However, applications are not limited to the earth sciences, as the same techniques can be used for tracing the raw materials for archaeological artefacts, or for forensic studies. Until now, the University of Cape Town was the only African university with this type of research capabilities. The need for a LA-MC-ICPMS centre in the Gauteng region was demonstrated by the wide support the proposal gained, with Professor Nic Beukes of the DST-NRF CIMERA Centre of Excellence as an important supporter, together with another twenty-six scientists from nine different universities and companies. 

The new equipment will be housed at SPECTRUM, the Central Analytical Facility of the Faculty of Science at UJ, and it is hoped that it will be operational by the beginning of 2016.