Mineralogy Equipment

The Mineralogy group investigates the properties of minerals, melts and solutions under geologically relevant conditions and how these influence processes and material cycles in the Earth system. How do melts and magmas form? What role do aqueous solutions or fluids play in the Earth's crust? Under what conditions do minerals transform? Knowledge of these interrelationships is the prerequisite for analysing the findings in nature and interpreting them with regard to their formation processes.
For these investigations, we use experimental equipment in the laboratory with which the pressure and temperature conditions of geological processes can be simulated in a controlled manner. The materials produced in these experiments are examined and characterised using highly sensitive measuring methods. Available experimental equipment includes high temperature furnaces, gas pressure autoclaves and diamond anvil cells. Investigation methods include electron microscopy and electron microprobe, optical polarization microscopy, vibrational spectroscopy, X-ray spectroscopy and diffraction with X-ray and synchrotron radiation.
The Facilities of the Mineralogy group are a laboratory complex and consist of several sub-modules. For more details, please see the individual websites.