T he Department of Geology has outstanding facilities for laboratory and field studies in the geological and environmental sciences. Its laboratory facilities, instrumentation, computer equipment, and shop support are available to all students. The DCP is also superb for analyzing the chemistry of waters and brines. The X-ray diffractometer is useful for mineral identification studies. For students needing electron microprobe analyses of minerals and glasses, the department provides access to the University of Chicago microprobe facility.
Photospectrometric facilities are available for quantitative wet-chemical analysis.
All these tools are available for water, organic matter, and sediment chemistry research. A gas-source mass spectrometer allows the analysis of a variety of stable light isotopes, including those of oxygen, carbon, sulfur, and waters. For extraction of the isotope-bearing gases, the department has several extraction lines designed to handle silicates, oxides, carbonates, and sulfides. For oceanographic, limnologic, sedimentologic, and biologic studies in shallow seas and lakes, the department has a GPS unit for locating sites, outboard motors, inflatable boat, skiff CTD meter, transmissometer, fathometer, current meter, Nansen bottles, grab samplers, gravity corers, generators, and a fully equipped ROV submersible. A wide variety of geophysical equipment is available for both teaching and research activities.