The hydrothermal laboratory is equipped with horizontal and vertical cold-seal pressure vessels for the synthesis of crystals or glasses or to study interactions between minerals/rocks, melts, and fluids at hydrostatic conditions. The hydrothermal lab comprises three lines: 200 MPa line, 500 MPa line and rapid quench line.

In principle, an internally heated pressure vessel (IHPV) consists of a thick-walled pressure vessel sealed by closure plugs at the ends. In addition, there is a pressure inlet/outlet as well as several electrical leads into the vessel for power supply to and temperature control of the internal furnace. The equipment is particularly designed for experimental studies at medium to high temperatures (currently up to 1250 °C) and pressures up to 10 kbar. This P-T range is inaccessible by …

The Isotope Geochemistry Labs are equipped with a clean room facility (including several low-blank chemistry laboratories (class 100), sample preparation and ion-exchange chromatography, a set up for isotope systems: Pb, U-Pb, Rb-Sr, Sm-Nd as well as B and Li isotopes), two thermal ionization mass-spectrometers (TIMS) and a multi-collector mass-spectrometer with inductively coupled plasma source (MC-ICP-MS).

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 electron microprobe technique allows for nondestructive analyses of smallest parts of materials (in micrometer range) with high precision. Materials that can be analyzed are embedded and polished mineral grains (also gemstones), glass particles as well as rocks. Except for H, He, and Li all elements of the periodic table until including U can be detected and quantified. The detection limits are usually between 5 and 800 µg/g, depending on the comparability of the concentration of the …

The noble gases (or "rare gases") helium, neon, argon, krypton, and xenon are chemically inert. Due to their volatile nature they have a strong tendency to partition into gas or fluid phases and can be used as tracers for the origin and the transport of fluids.
In rocks they are typically present in very low concentrations of ~10⁻⁹ to 10⁻⁶ cm³ STP/g (He, Ar; 1 cm³ STP is equivalent to 2.7 x 10¹⁹ atoms) and ~10⁻¹³ to 10⁻¹⁰ cm³ STP/g (Ne, Kr, Xe). Therefore their concentrations and isotopic …

The static 1000 t laboratory press of Max Voggenreiter GmbH can be operated either with a Walker module as a multi anvil press or via a second hydraulic cylinder with a piston cylinder module (diameter 12.7 mm).

To investigate the pressure/temperature regime of the Earth´s crust and shallow parts of the upper mantle, at the GFZ three piston cylinder presses are installed and run. Two of the three presses are non-endloaded piston cylinder apparatus ("Johannes-type"), with which pressures up to 2.1 GPa and temperatures up to 1400°C can be reached. Salt/graphite- or natural fluorite/graphite-assemblages (latter for temperatures larger 800°C) are of 2.2 cm diameter. Pressures were calibrated according the …

A Rotating Multi-Anvil Press constructed by Max Voggenreiter GmbH is installed in the high-pressure hall of the GFZ. The apparatus consists of an 800 tons hydraulic press and a Walker-type multi-anvil module. The whole apparatus is rotatable by 360° perpendicular to the press axis. Schmidt and Ulmer (2004) demonstrated that by rotation it is possible to overcome common fluid/solid or melt/solid separation during high-pressure experiments. The press …