This lab is dedicated to mineral synthesis and other experiments using mostly inorganic chemistry or hydrothermal synthesis methods. The lab is equipped with standard chemical laboratory equipment such as analytical balance, centrifuge, fume hood, furnaces, hotplate stirrers, ovens, dry block heater, pH meters as well as reflux setups and sonicator bath. Hydrothermal synthesis is possible in closed Teflon lined cells heated either conductively or by microwave irradiation.

This lab is dedicated for the synthesis of redox-active iron mineral phases, as well as their interaction with redox-sensitive trace elements (e.g., As, Cr,) and anaerobic microbes, under oxygen-limited conditions. It is equipped with two anaerobic chamber workstations, setup for liquid degassing to remove O₂, sample autodiluter for trace element analysis and standard chemical laboratory equipment such as analytical balance, centrifuge, fume hood, hotplate stirrer, shaking incubator, oven and …

The Mineral Separation laboratory is designed for performing chemical cleaning and purification of minerals. The fume hood in the lab is suitable for using hydrofluoric acid, in addition to other more commonly used acids. Four hot-dog rollers that sit within an acid cabinet can be used to continuously roll up to 24 one-liter sample bottles.

The Omics Lab is currently equipped with all facilities to carry out DNA extractions, polymerase chain reactions (PCR) and gel electrophoresis. Current research includes the biodiversity and functions of cryophilic microbiomes with the focus on snow and ice algal communities.
The main equipment is a low temperature chamber. The environmental chamber (Percival LT-36VL) allows to perform incubation at set chosen environmental parameters, or following a program set by the user, with the …

Processes related to the solvents extraction of snow and ice algae or particles are conducted in the Organic Microbial Geochemistry Lab. These processes are done in combination with ultrasonic bath, shaking, and solid phase extraction. Evaporation of organic extracts using nitrogen or argon gas, as well as various intermediate steps such as milling, acidification and filtration are also carried out in this lab. The subsequent analysis is done with the [Shimadzu Total Organic Carbon Analyzer …

This lab is specialized on radioisotope tracer studies involving direct measurements of the turnover or incorporation of radioactively labelled compounds. The following radiotracer techniques are employed: measurement of sulfate reduction rate with ³⁵S radiotracer, methanogenesis rate with ¹⁴C radiotracer, and methane oxidation rate with ¹⁴C radiotracer. The laboratory equipment includes a distillation setup for reduced sulfur species, a high-pressure thermal gradient incubation system, a …

The sediment processing laboratory is a space for preparing marine and non-marine sedimentary samples for microscopy and other analyses, which require individual components or fabric specific analysis (e.g., Mass Spectrometry, trace metals, isotope studies…). Preparation methods include separating and picking of biogenic particles, thin section dying techniques, sieving for granulometry, and creating smear slides and acetate peels.

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 …

In this lab the soil physical and thermal properties of undisturbed and artificial samples (i.e. porosity, thermal and hydraulic conductivity) are analyzed. The applications comprise calibration, testing and quality control of meteorological and soil physical sensors for polar environments in long-term observations. The work done here serves as experimental bridge between field observations and numerical modelling; testing and unravelling complex physical processes.

General applications in the soil physics lab comprise soil sample preparation, particle size analysis and estimation of soil moisture content.