Field emission electron microprobe

• Subject Area: Mineralogy, Petrology and Geochemistry
• Term: Funded in 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 453122287

Field emission electron microprobe is an instrument for spatially-resolved chemical (elemental) micro- and nanoanalysis of solid materials. This analytical device is used in mineralogy, petrology, geochemistry and other geological, chemical disciplines or materials science to determine the compositional characteristics and their spatial variations in natural samples, experimental or synthetic products. The composition of minerals provides primary information on physico-chemical conditions of geological processes and underlies structure-property relations of geological solid matter. We propose an integrative research program, which combines experimental petrology research, field-oriented analytical studies and thermodynamic/kinetic modeling, and incorporating chemical variations in minerals. Our experimental studies concentrate on mineral stabilities, solubilities and element partitioning during equilibrium or kinetic processes such as crystal nucleation and growth in magmatic systems. Our field-oriented research uses mineral equilibria to reconstruct complex processes of magmatic-hydrothermal transitions and mass transport, reconstruction of hydrothermal fluid focusing as control of economic metal enrichments in hydrothermal systems. These approaches result in new thermodynamic or kinetic data, which serve as basis of interpretive or predictive models of geological processes at various spatial and temporal scales.

• DFG Programme: Major Research Instrumentation
• Major Instrumentation: FE-Elektronenstrahlmikrosonde
• Instrumentation Group: 4040 Röntgenmikrosonden
• Applicant Institution: Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg
• Leader: Professor David Dolejs, Ph.D.