These facilities, together with the JEOL 8600 Electron Microprobe, allow a wide range of phase equilibrium studies to be carried out that bear on the generation of igneous rocks. These instruments provide a range of deformational environments equivalent to a transect through the lithosphere, including the brittle ductile transition in most silicates. Erba CNS elemental analyzer, two Tremetrics gas chromatographic systems, HP 5880 gas chromatograph and a St. John amino acid analyzer. These instruments are used to determine the isotopic composition of Sr, Nd, and Pb, as well as the concentration of K, Rb, Sr, Ba, REE, Pb, Th, and U in natural samples. Studies focus on determining the isotopic composition of Sr in carbonate rocks, the age of igneous rocks and minerals, the source of basaltic and granitic magmas and ore deposits and the cycling of Pb in the environment.
Samples are prepared in two clean chemical laboratories.