The Geology Department is housed in Edmunds Hall, and is well-equipped to support a variety of different field-based projects as well as geophysical, hydrogeological, mineralogical, petrological, field-, lab- and computer-based research.
Labs housed in the department include:
Rock crushing lab:
Rocklabs shatterbox, with WC heads
Bico disc mill
Retsch Ball mill
Retsch BB 50 rock crusher
6” jaw crusher
Rock saws (10 and 18")
Analytical lab:
Panalytical Axios X-Ray Fluorescence spectrometer – (XRF Lab website)
Rigaku Ultima IV X-Ray diffractometer (XRD Lab website)
Elementar Vario Microcube Elemental Analyzer
Los Gatos Research isotope analyzer
30 ton hydraulic press for XRF pressed powder preparation
David W. and Claire B. Oxtoby Environmental Isotope lab: (Oxtoby Isotope Lab website)
Established in the summer of 2017, the isotope lab (housed in the Seeley G Mudd building) can characterize a wide variety of isotopic masses and is equipped with:
Agilent 8900 triple quadrupole ICP-MS, with an aqueous sample autosampler. The instrument is also able to deal with solid samples using an ESI NWR193 laser ablation system (ICP-MS Lab website).
Thermofisher Delta V isotope ratio mass spectrometer with attached Thermofisher GasBench, Flash IRMS EA and TC/EA (IRMS Lab website).
Computer Lab:
15 computers with a suite of software including, but not limited to, ArcMap GIS software, MatLab, Crystal Maker software
Geophysics/hydrogeology equipment:
Geophysical surveying equipment available includes GPR, DC resistivity, EM equipment, a seismic array, total field station surveying equipment.
Hydrogeological tools available include flow meters, surveying equipment, water chemistry test kits along with experimental apparatus such as Darcy tubes.
Other labs and equipment include an X-radiography laboratory; two paleomagnetic laboratories; a mineral separation lab (including a Gemini table, heavy liquids a Frantz magnetic separator); a wet lab; an array of stereographic and polarizing microscopes; an excellent rock, mineral, and fossil collection.
The Geology Department is also a cooperative member of Pomona’s EDS-equipped SEM facility housed in the Physics Department