Lab Descriptions and Information
Facility Resources
The EARTH Core facility is a collection laboratories housed on the main campus of the University of Utah within the Frederick Albert Sutton Building and the William Browning Building. The combined analytical power of this facility makes it one of the most comprehensive Earth Systems observatories in the Intermountain West.
Facility Capabilities
- Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) with tandem quadrupole (QQQ),
laser ablation (LA), multicollector (MC) ICP-MS for heavy isotope analysis & Ion Chromatography
(IC).
- Noble Gas Facility provides the analytical services associated with groundwater age
dating and noble gas paleothermometry.
- Particle Size and Characterization facility with laser light scattering (DLS, PALS)
for nanoparticle size and surface charge, laser diffraction and optical imaging for
suspended and dry microparticle to mm size and shape analysis.
- Hydrobiogeochemical Facility with analyses for dissolved organic carbon, total dissolved
nitrogen, soluble reactive phosphorous, methane, carbon dioxide, ultraviolet absorbance
(UV), excitation-emission spectra (EEM).
- U-ATAQ offers the use of its Mobile Atmospheric Laboratory service for on-campus users
in all departments at the University of Utah. This vehicle can be used for mobile
or stationary measurement of CO2, CH4, H2O, PM2.5, O3, NO, NO2, meteorological conditions
as well as atmospheric flask collections. Equipment owned by the user can also be
incorporated in the vehicle during rental to complement the existing measurement suite.
Geo-located and calibrated datasets will be provided as the final product.
- Electron Microprobe Facility uses Cameca SX50 and Cemeca SX100 instruments to analyze major and minor elements in prepared thin section and round geologic mounts.