Stable isotope ratio analysis has served as an ideal tool with which to constrain such moderate to high temperature water-clock processes. The principal research of the laboratory is focused on radioactive dating. The Laboratory for Experimental Space Plasma focuses mainly on the global formation of the magnetospheric and the cometary type plasmas in a controlled laboratory atmosphere. Such a global type simulation is extremely useful to increase our understanding of the structure and dynamics of the Earth's magnetosphere and the cometary atmosphere. The UCR program in solid Earth Geophysics emphasizes field measurements and computer modeling to investigate crustal structure, basin configuration earthquake prediction, and tectonics.
Applications cover geothermal and water resources.
The major geophysical methods include measurement of gravity,, magnetic field, seismic refraction, DC-resistivity, magnetotelluric field, heat flow, and ground water flow. The X-ray Analytical Laboratory consists of of laboratory equipment for obtaining both mineralogical and geochemical information from bulk rock samples or monomineralic concentrates. The Laboratory for Crustal Metallogenesis conducts studies of the origin, transport, and deposition of sulfur and metals by hydrothermal processes in the Earth's continental crust. Studies focus mainly on metallogenesis in active geothermal systems that are located in present-day environments of crustal rifting, such as Salton Sea system. Crustal rifts are important sites for generating metallic and industrial mineral deposits throughout the geologic past, so studies of active rift systems provide important constraints on processes of metallogenesis.