In order to dissolve minerals from its compound that are suitable for radiometric dating and to get rid of their adhesions in the best possible way, the stone is ground several times with the jaw crusher and the roller mill. The minerals suitable for the chosen dating methodology are separated using density differences, magnetic properties and grain shape. Subsequently, the millbase is sieved; the finer grain fraction is of interest for further processing.
The Wilfley wet-shaking hearth …

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 Geochemistry Group manages a mineral separation lab to obtain minerals for geochronology and geochemical studies. The lab includes a ceramic plate jaw crusher, ball mills, a Frantz Magnetic Separator (separation of minerals according to magnetic susceptibility), sieves, and heavy liquids for density separation.

In the rock crushing room, rocks are crushed and powdered using a variety of tools, e.g. sieve machine, agate vessels for disk mill, jaw crusher, Wilfley table, rock mill, disc mill.

The sample preparation laboratories provide facilities to prepare geological samples for a wide range of analytical methods. These include mineral separations for geochronologic analysis, mineral powders for geochemical analysis and polished thin sections for microscopy.

Soil samples collected in the study area are placed in a plastic bag on site, sealed and labelled with a unique sample label. After sample storage, some pre-treatments have to be carried out before the physico-chemical investigation. Pre-treatment includes sample splitting, drying, sieving (< 2 mm for fine soil, see Soil Laboratory - Particle Size Analysis) and digestion. The sample is divided by a riffle divider or by quartering to the desired quantity. The samples are either dried in air …