Samples of all kinds are pretreated in our sample preparation laboratories. Samples are usually first dried, sieved or separated into magnetic or non-magnetic components in a magnetic separator based on their magnetic properties. Separation based on different mineral densities is also carried out here. Rock samples are ground in a ball mill and then further processed in the clean room laboratory using wet chemical methods.

In the case of cosmogenic nuclide samples for the in situ-produced …

The laboratory for microscopy focuses on the specific requirements of microfacies analysis of lake sediments, but also offers a wide range of possibilities for other applications. Sedimentological, petrographic and microfacies analyses on all kinds of covered and uncovered thin sections and polished sections with transmitted and incident light are performed.

Tephra, the Greek word for ash, is used to describe any material that is ejected by a volcano into the atmosphere (pyroclasts). Tephra includes dense blocks and bombs (> 64 mm), and lighter materials such as scoria, pumice and ash (< 2 mm). As one moves away from a volcano, the tephra deposits become finer grained (smaller particles) and thinner. This is because small airborne particles hover longer and stay within the atmosphere for a greater distance from the volcano. These particles of ash …

The Environmental Mineralogy and Biogeochemistry Labs are equipped with a very diverse suite of spectroscopic and scattering instruments to determine material chemical composition, structure, surface area and grain size of both synthetic and natural samples. For instance,

• Our powder X-ray diffractometer (XRD) consists of two individual instruments capable of X-ray scattering analysis using both Cu (λ=1.54 Å) and Ag radiation (λ=0.56 Å) in transmission geometry. XRD can be used to analyze …

Sample preparation instruments are available for all kinds of samples for scanning electron microscopes and transmission electron microscopes: Gold-Palladium Sputter Coater - Leica; Carbon Coater - Leica; Cryo Sample Preparation - Leica; Gatan Model 656 Dimple Grinder - a precision tool used to mechanically produce dimples in the surface of materials like ceramics, semiconductors and metals; Gatan Model Duo Mill 600 - a post-ion milling device used to prepare electron transparent specimens for …