A new research building housing investigators of both departments was occupied in May 1990. The Department's modern computing facilities are used in all areas of training and research. Its local area network provides a distributed computing environment with all computers having high-speed access to the Internat. The computer platforms include approximately 40 SUN workstations, a dozen Compaq alpha workstations, several Pentium-based PCs, and a variety of Apple MACs.
Equipment exists for the production of computer-generated videos.
As well as having extensive commercially purchased instrumentation, DTM has a large number of unique instruments designed by the staff, including seismometers, strainmeters, mass spectrometers, a large radius ion probe, and image-tube spectrograph systems. These instruments are used for a wide range of geochemical applications that require isotope ratio and trace element concentration measurements. Current research applications in the thermal and plasma ionization mass spectrometers include the analysis of Li, B, Mg, Sr, Ag, Nd, Hf, W, Os, Pb, U, Th and Ra isotopic compositions with isotope dilution concentration measurements of B, K, Rb, Sr, Pd, Ag, Cs, Ba, REE, Hf, PGEs, Re, Os, Pb, U, Th and Ra. Currently under construction is an addition to the ion-probe that will use a 1 m radius magnet to provide additional dispersion to allow higher transmission at high mass resolution and the operation of a 5 detector ion collector system. Additional facilities, including SEM, electron microprobe, and stable isotope mass spectrometers for sulfur, carbon, and oxygen, are available at the Geophysical Laboratory.