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Using a grant from the National Science Foundation and matching funds from the University of Miami (UM), the Stable Isotope and Comparative Sedimentology Laboratories purchased mass spectrometers that enable ‘clumping,’ a new way of analyzing isotopic compositions. The new method relies on measuring the grouping (or 'clumping') of two rare isotopes of carbon dioxide given off during the dissolution of calcium carbonate by acid. Conventional isotope methods cannot distinguish salinity and temperature, but the new method can. According to Professor Peter Swart, director of UM's Stable Isotope Lab, “This is the most exciting technique to come along in the field of stable isotopes since the 1950’s. It will revolutionize the use of stable isotopes to unravel geological processes. The determination of past temperature during the ice ages is an obvious example, but less apparent applications involve determining whether dinosaurs were warm or cold blooded, the origins of CO2 in the atmosphere, or the cementation history of carbonate rocks."
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