The Bubble Lab is an experimental laboratory to study bubble processes in hydrothermal and volcanic terrain. Earthquake and volcano processes are commonly accompanied by migration of fluids and deformation of fluid systems and their interaction with the host rock, including fracturing, fluid-filled crack growth and diking. The coupling between fluids and rock works in both ways: On one side, changes in the state of fluid-rock systems are thought to encourage or discourage tectonic earthquakes, …

The development of geophysical exploration systems with high resolution for underground applications and mobile operation on the surface implicate many interesting problems to be solved with electronics. That is, design and programming of radio-controlled data acquisition systems as well as control systems for seismic impulse and vibrator sources. Another challenging task is the planning, installation and initial operation of electrode arrays in boreholes. For testing and optimization of the …

For rock deformation experiments we handle different apparatuses, allowing to perform brittle (low temperature) tests on large rock samples (MTS servo-hydraulic press) and high temperature (ductile) experiments on small samples (Paterson-type gas deformation apparatus at high confining pressure, uniaxial creep rig at atmospheric pressure). The following facilities are operated: servohydraulic MTS press, gas deformation apparatus and high temperature creep apparatus.

In the Gas Chromatography Lab whole oil analyzes are performed with special attention to saturated hydrocarbons, highly volatile organic compounds, and lipid fractions (e.g. fatty acids, alcohols, sterols).

The research done in section 3.1 demands precise and accurate analyses of element concentrations and isotope ratios in a wide range of materials (minerals, rocks, fluids and gas) and on samples as tiny as 1 micron in diameter and with just picograms (10-12 pg) in mass. This work involves a large number of instruments and dedicated laboratories.
The GFZ encourages external collaborations and the laboratories in section 3.1 are heavily used by research students and guest scientists. The …

Pre-treatment of river sediment and soil samples for cosmogenic isotope analyses (¹⁰Be, ²⁶Al) includes purification steps to obtain pure quartz sands prior to dissolution and element separation by ion chromatography column chemistry. From sieved samples, minerals are separated by magnetic separation and/or heavy liquids, and silicate and oxide minerals are chemically separated from quartz by leaching with acids (HF, HCl, HNO₃) at elevated temperatures.

The Element 2 is a high sensitivity, high-resolution sector field inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (HR-ICP-MS). In our laboratory, the instrument is exclusively used to analyze very low concentrated analytes in solution. A typical example is the direct measurement of ⁹Be in river water, suspended river sediment and time series analysis of Phosphorus fluxes in the “Convent Forest” and “Bavarian Forest”. The integrated auto sample can be loaded with more than 240 samples for …

In the HELGES Laboratory, sample preparation and measurements of cosmogenic nuclides (¹⁰Be, ²⁶Al) and stable isotopes of metals and metalloids (currently Li, Mg, Si, Fe, Sr, B) in geological and environmental sample materials, such as sediments, rocks, river water, soils, vegetation are performed.
Two clean labs class 1000+ with class 10 laminar flow workstations are available for sample preparation of low concentration samples. In addition, dry and wet chemistry labs provide the necessary …

The ICP-OES (Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometer) allows simultaneous detection and quantification of most elements in solutions at concentrations ranging from a few ng/g (ppb) to hundreds of µg/g (ppm). We analyse a wide selection of environmental samples for element concentrations, ranging from rock, soil, river water, seawater, and plant materials. We routinely analyse and quantify the following Elements: Li, Be, B, Na, Mg, Al, Si, P, S, K, Ca, Sc, Ti, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, …

One of four worldwide iridium-strip-heaters is located in our laboratory to create homogeneous glasses out of powder with short time and high temperature impact (~2000 °C).