The Department of Geosciences is equipped with a Thermo Jarrell Ash Atomscan 25 sequential Inductively Coupled argon Plasma (ICP) emission spectrometer that is designed to meet a wide variety of bulk rock, water, and archaelogical chemistry demands. The machine is built around an extremely rapid and reliable slew-scanning monochromator that offers both high resolution and wide wavelength coverage. It includes an auto sampler for 240 samples and a totally-automated plasma emission source.
Major and trace (including rare earth) elements are routinely analyzed for all types of rocks. Over 3000 igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks and hundreds of water and archeological samples have been analyzed in the lab since its inception in 1990. A chromatography lab has been established to allow pre-separation and pre-concentration of rare earch elements for high-precision measurements by ICP.
