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The Metamorphic Lab contains the necessary tools to study and document rocks at the thin-section scale. It also houses many facilities for the preparation of samples for various forms of geochemical, structural, or textural analysis (for example by electron microprobe, X-Ray fluorescence and powder X-Ray diffraction).
Petrographic Microscope with Camera
Several microscopes can be used for petrographic analysis, specimen picking, and microdrilling. Our Nikon polarizing microscope permits high-quality photography of thin sections in plain and cross polarized light.
Scanner
This can digitize thin section images at up to 6400 dpi in plane and polarized light.
Universal Stage Microscope
The U-Stage is a component of a petrographic microscope, used to rotate crystals into proper orientations to observe planar features and principal optical directions.
Sample Prep Area
Several polishers and polishing compounds are available to prepare samples for optical or microbeam analysis. A steel ball mill and a shatterbox permit the grinding of powders or gravel down to appropriate sizes for research by powder XRD and for subsequent processing for XRF. A high-spec analytical balance and a 15-ton hand-press form part of the infrastructure for sample XRF preparation (when preparing pressed pellets).
Sieve Shaker
The RO-TAP sieve shaker sorts size fractions of particles by applying a horizontal circular motion, and a top-mounted arm taps sieves to encourage particle separation at small size fractions.
Fluxer
Our fluxer melts materials, generally with a fluxing agentm to form homogenous glass beads that are used for X-ray Fluorescence analysis.
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