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.

Various binocular and polarization microscopes are used to study mineral separates, and rock thin sections. Additionally, a micro mill for high‐resolution milling to recover sample powder for chemical and isotopic analysis is available.

The preparation lab offers different preparation methods such as thin-section production, polishes, dye methods, hardening methods and others.