Research Facilities:
Department of Geosciences

Troy Rasbury has three research quality petrographic microscopes and two of these are equipped with cathodo-luminescence setups. She also has several dissecting microscopes for hand picking. The petrography lab has a computer driven dental drill with microscope for micro-drilling phases for geochemistry. The lab is equipped with a digital camera system, which can take photos from a copy stand to the highest magnification with the petrographic microscope. These facilities are used to identify and sample phases for radiometric dating. Rasbury is a collaborating faculty in the Isotope Lab, which is under the direction of Gil Hanson. The Isotope Lab has three thermal ionization mass spectrometers (TIMS). Two of these are 1960's NBS-design single collector TIMSes that have been upgraded electronically through the years so that they perform at the level of most modern mass spectrometers. The lab also has a Finnigan MAT 262 solid source multi-collector mass spectrometer that was purchased in January 1991.