Radiogenic and cosmogenic isotopes — Instrumentation and materials

Materials

Materials we analyse include:

U–bearing accessory minerals such as zircon, rutile, titanite, apatite, hematite, cassiterite: U–Pb, U–Th, Hf, trace elements, ²³⁸U/²³⁵U
K–bearing minerals such as sanidine, alunite: ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar
Carbonates: Sr, U–Pb, U–Th, ²³⁸U/²³⁵U, ²³⁴U/²³⁸U
Minerals and whole rocks (Hf, Pb, Sr, Nd, ²³⁸U/²³⁵U, Lu–Hf, Rb–Sr, Sm–Nd)
Rocks, sediments: ¹⁰Be, ²⁶Al, ³⁶Cl
Archaeological (e.g., bones, artefacts) and biological materials(e.g., plants): Sr, Pb, U
Fluids: Sr, ²³⁴U/²³⁸U
K–bearing groundmass from basalts, pseudotachylyte, impact melt and whole rock meteorites: ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar step–heating
Sanidine, muscovite, biotite, plagioclase, hornblende, alunite, jarosite and other K–bearing minerals: ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar step–heating, single crystal ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar fusion
Fine–grained intergrowths of metamorphic and authigenic K–bearing minerals and pseudotachylyte: ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar in situ dating
Clay minerals and glauconite: K–Ar dating and ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar micro–encapsulation

Instrumentation

Instruments we use include:

Thermo Fisher 'Neptune Plus' Multi–Collector Inductively Coupled Plasma Ionisation Mass Spectrometer (MC–ICP–MS) for the high–precision measurement of U, U–Th, Pb, Hf, Nd, Si isotope ratios
Nu Instruments 'Attom' Single Collector Inductively Coupled Plasma Ionisation Mass Spectrometer (SC–ICP–MS) for U–Pb geochronology, trace elements and isotopic/element mapping
Nu Instruments 'Nu Plasma HR' MC–ICP–MS for U–Pb geochronology
Thermo Fisher 'Triton' Thermal Ionisation Mass Spectrometer (TIMS, 2x) for Sr, Nd, and U–Pb geochronology
Isotopx 'Phoenix' TIMS for U–Pb geochronology (delivery March 2020)
Elemental Scientific Lasers 193nm excimer and solid–state laser ablation systems (3x) coupled to ICP–MS instrumentation for high spatial resolution sampling for U–Pb, U–Th, tracer isotope and elemental applications
New Wave Research 'Micromill' sampling device for physical sampling of material for dissolution at >50um
National Electrostatic Corp. 15SDH–2 5MV tandem accelerator mass spectrometer with capability for ¹⁰Be, ¹⁴C, ²⁶Al, ³⁶Cl
NEC 250kV single stage accelerator mass spectrometer for ¹⁴C
Mineral separation and purification laboratories
'SELFRAG' – a high–voltage device for the selective fragmentation of rocks (delivery March 2020)
Cosmogenic nuclide geochemistry laboratories
Class–100 Clean lab suite for the safe and low contamination processing of samples, including laminar flow hoods with low (ppt) Pb blanks
MAP 215–50 noble gas mass spectrometer
GVI ARGUS V noble gas multicollector noble gas mass spectrometer
Thermo Scientific HELIX–SFT noble gas dual–collector mass spectrometer
Nu Instrument NOBLESSE noble gas mass spectrometer
Thermo Scientific ARGUS VI noble gas multicollector mass spectrometer
4 x Teledyne Cetac Fusions CO2 Stepped Heating ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar Laser System
Teledyne Cetac Fusions Diode Stepped ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar Heating Laser System
Teledyne Cetac Analyte Excite+ Homogenized Excimer ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar Laser Ablation System
New Wave UP–213 nm UV YAG Laser ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar Ablation System
Cryo–system for isolation of specific noble gases
5 x UHV automated ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar extraction lines
In–house designed glass UHV line for ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar micro–encapsulation
Thermo Scientific ICAP–Q OES for K–Ar dating