Department of Geological Sciences

The Department of Geological Sciences houses world-class analytical facilities for internal and external research.

Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry Facility (ICP)

The ICP-MS facility is equipped with:

• Nu Plasma 3-D multi-collector
• Element-2 multi resolution single collector
• Nu Plasma -1 multi-collector mass spectrometers

Sample introduction equipment includes:

• Quintupled Nd-YAG lasers
• Desolvating Nebulizers
• Autosamplers
• The facility is under positive pressure from HEPA-filtered air, contains seamless clean-room flooring, and has a wet-bench facility with laminar flow exhaust hood (class 100) for sample preparation.

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Stable Isotope Mass Spectrometry Facility (Gasmass)

Light stable isotope lab features the following mass spectrometers and laser based isotope analyzers along with a complete sample preparation facility:

• Finnigan-MAT 252 isotope ratio mass spec with a Kiel III carbonate preparation device
• Thermo Delta V Advantage isotope ratio mass spec with a ConFlo II interface attached to a Carlo Erba elemental analyzer
• Thermo Delta V Advantage isotope ratio mass spec with a ConFlo IV interface attached to a Thermo IsoLink elemental analyzer
• Thermo Delta V Plus isotope ratio mass spec with a ConFlo IV interface attached to a Thermo TC/EA and a Thermo GCC-III interface with modified HP6890 GC
• Finnigan-MAT DeltaPlus isotope ratio mass spec with a ConFlo II interface attached to a Carlo Erba elemental analyzer
• Picarro L2120-I Isotopic Liquid Water and Water Vapor Analyzer coupled with a Picarro A0211 High Precision Vaporizer and a CTC HTS PAL autosampler
• Picarro G2201-i CRDS Analyzer for Isotopic CO₂ and CH₄
• UIC 5017 CO₂ Coulometer with autosampler.
• Access to a shared Finnigan-MAT DeltaPlus with Gasbench II and Costech elemental analyzer.

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Noble Gas Mass Spectrometry Facilities

• ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar Geochronology Laboratory
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• (U-Th)/He Thermochronology Laboratory

Sample Preparation Facilities

• Rock Preparation Laboratory
• Mineral Separation Laboratory
• Thermochronology Sample Preparation Laboratory
• Clean Laboratory
• Optical Microscopy Laboratory

X-Ray Facilities

• X-Ray Fluorescence Laboratory
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• X-Ray Diffraction Laboratory
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Scanning Electron Microscope Laboratory (SEM)

The SEM laboratory is equipped with:

• Zeiss EVO MA10
• EDAX EDS spectrometer with a Gatan MiniCL detector
  • This instrument has variable pressure capability, allowing imaging and analysis of non-conductive surfaces without the need for carbon-coating in most situations.

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Electron Microprobe Facility

The facility is located in the UF Nanoscale Instrument Center and includes:

•  CAMECA SXFIVE-FE field emission electron probe with 4 high-resolution WDS spectrometers and EDS, capable of high precision and high spatial resolution trace element analyses of minerals
• TESCAN/EDAX Field Emission SEM-EDS-EBSD system for mineral fabric analysis.
• The CAMECA EPMA and TESCAN SEM instruments have integrated software and stage solutions allowing co-location of elemental and EBSD analysis as a spatial resolution of better than 1 micron.

Paleomagnetism Facility

The Paleomagnetism Lab is equipped with:

• Discrete sample 2G Enterprises cryogenic magnetometer
• 755-1.65 2G Enterprises U-channel magnetometer
• Molspin discrete spinner magnetometer within a magnetically shielded room.

The lab also houses equipment for offline sample treatment including:

• Thermal demagnetizer
• Pulse magnetizers optimized for both u-channel and discrete samples.

For studies of rock and environmental magnetism lab users have access to:

• Kappabridge magnetic susceptibility bridge
• Sapphire instruments susceptibility bridge optimized for u-channels
• Bartington magnetic susceptibility system
• PMC MicroMag 3900 series vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM)
• Lakeshore 8600 series VSM
• On campus there is a Quantum Design MPMS3 housed and maintained within the Department of Chemical Engineering.

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Hydrogeochemistry Facility

A fully equipped lab is available for analysis of surface and groundwater chemistry that includes:

• Thermo Scientific Dionex ICS-6000 HPIC system
• Seal Analytics AA3 Autoanalyzer
• Agilent 7820A gas chromatograph
• Hitachi F-7000 Fluorescence spectrometer
• Shimadzu UV-1800 spectrometer

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Organic Geochemistry Facility

A fully equipped lab for analysis of organic compounds and isotopes includes:

• Shimadzu ASI-V, TOC-V CSN, TNM-1
• Dionex FR2000 flourescence detector, ASI auto sample injector, LC20, DD20, and GP50
• Shimadzu AOC-2oi, GCMS-QP2010S, and GC-2010
• Christ Alpha 1-4 LD plus freeze dryer
• Thermoscientific TSQ8000 Triple Quadrople MS, and Trace 1310 gas chronmatograph
• Thermoscientific Dionex Ultimate 3000 endura liquid chromatograph
• Isotope cleanroom for radiocarbon preparation
• Dionex ASE300 Accelerated Solvent Extractor
• Thermoscientific Evolution 300 UV-VIS spectrometer
• Shimadzu GC-2010 gas chromograph
• Caliper Turbo Vap II
• Shimadzu TOC-V CSN analyzer
• Gerstel Fration Collector coupled with Agilent 7890B gas chromograph
• Agilent 5977B GC/MSD coupled with a Frontier Lab Multishot Pyrolzer EGA/PY 3030D.

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Experimental Petrology Facility

The Experimental Geochemistry Laboratory allows our researchers to recreate the high-temperature and high-pressure conditions inside the terrestrial planets and asteroids. The instrumentation in the laboratory includes:

• Two Rockland End-Loaded Piston Cylinders
• Deltech Controlled-Atmosphere Furnace
• Preparation and Processing Equipment.

Geodynamics and Geophysics Facilities

• Portable seismometers for remote deployment
• Magnetometer
• Warden gravimeter
• High-end computing workstations directly linked to UF’s Hypergator supercomputer are available for research and teaching.

Sediment Core Facilities

• Sampling station
• Walk-in cold storage Geotek Multi-Sensor Core Logger with sensors for gamma density, magnetic susceptibility and P-wave velocity
• Line scan camera.