Analytical Facilities
Electron microprobe (EPMA)
The Department is in the process of installing a new JEOL JXA-8230 Superprobe, associated sample preparation and carbon-coating facilities. The new laboratory will become operational in Jnauary 2012. For more information about probe capabilities, sample preparation, analytical services and rates, please contact Dr G. Costin, or Dr S. Büttner, or visit the laboratory's web page.
X-Ray Fluorescence spectrometry
The Departmental XRF, a Philips PW1480 for whole rock chemical analysis, is used for major and trace element analyses, and is run by Prof. Goonie Marsh. Sample preparation facilities for fused beads and powder pellets are available.
Fluid inclusion analysis
The Geology Department has a Linkham THMSG600 fluid inclusion heating/freezing stage which allows the investigation of fluid inclusions. The stage is mounted on a Nikon Eclipse E600 microscope that is equipped with objective lenses of 4x to 100x magnification.
Thin sectioning lab
The Department has a fully operational thin section lab for the production of high quality thin sections, polished thin sections, and grain mounts for petrographic and analytical applications. Our lab has some capacity to take on external perparation work. However, our own needs will be given priority.
2012 Rates
| In-house | Other SA HEI | Commercial | |
| Standard thin section | R 50 | R 75+VAT | R 150+VAT |
| Polished section | R 75 | R 100+VAT | R 200+VAT |
For more information on availability and turn-over times plese contact Mr John Hepple or the Head of Department.
Rock crushing lab
The rock crushing lab, housed in the basement, includes a splitter, a "chipmunk crusher", several ring & puck shatterboxes, and silica mortars & pestles, for clean, homogeneous sample preparation.
SEM-EDS and XRD
The Department has access to a state-of-the art Oxford Instruments EDS system and a Bruker X-ray diffractometer housed in the central Electron Microscopy Unit (EMU) and in the Department of Chemistry, respectively.
