RESEARCH FACILITIES
Department Labs
Thermochemistry Research Laboratory
The thermochemistry lab has the equipment and knowledge to measure the thermodynamics properties of reactions at surfaces and solid-fluid interfaces.
Faculty Member: Nadine Kabengi
Equipment: Custom-made flow microcalorimeters
Address: 364-369 Sparks Hall
Sedimentary Geochemistry Lab
Faculty Member: Daniel Gebregiorgis
Equipment: High-power ultrasonic homogenizer, Harvest-Right Lyophilizer, drying ovens, -20C freezer.
Address: 401 Sparks Hall
Shared Analytical Laboratory
The Shared Analytical Lab is a core facility providing shared space and instrumentation.
Equipment: Perkin Elmer Atomic Absorption spectrometer, 1100C Muffle Furnace, low-power binocular microscopes, high-power petrographic microscopes, Sorvall Superspeed Floor Centrifuge, UV-Vis spectrophotometer, Carlo Erba Soil Elemental Analyzer, Microbalances, Panalytical XPERT PRO MPD X-ray Diffractometer.
Address: 402 Sparks Hall
Laboratory of Hydrology and Stable-Isotope Laser Spectroscopy
Laser Spectroscopy for analysis of stable-isotope abundances in water.
Faculty Member: Luke Pangle
Equipment: IWA‐45EP Laser Spectrometer
Address: 403 Sparks Hall
Environmental Geochemistry Lab
The Environmental Geochemistry Lab is a research lab for wet-chemistry experimental analyses.
Faculty Member: Nadine Kabengi
Equipment: HPLC with an ion detector, UV‐VIS spectrophotometer with a flow-through cell; end-to-end shaker; drying oven; pH meters and specific ion electrodes, sonicators, peristaltic pumps, high-precision balances.
Address: 405 Sparks Hall
Ledford Urban Hydrology Lab
The Ledford Urban Hydrology Lab is a well-equipped research lab for classic field hydrology studies, along with analysis of major anions and cations, nutrients, and e. Coli in water samples.
Faculty Member: Sarah Ledford
Equipment: ThermoScientific Aquion Ion Chromatographs (2018), Elga benchtop water purifier (2018), Sontek FlowTracker 1 (2014), Sontek RiverSurveyor S5 (2018), ISCO 6712 autosampler (2019), Seal AQ300 Discrete Analyzer (2020), IDEXX Quanti-Tray Sealer and Incubator (2019).
Address: 406 Sparks Hall
Paleoenvironmental Laboratory
Faculty Member: Larry Kiage
Equipment: Coring equipment, 3 Centrifuge systems, Millipore Milli-Q Water System, research-grade microscopes.
Address: 407 Sparks Hall
Rock and Mineral Preparation Lab
Faculty Member: Paulo Hidalgo
Equipment: Flat Plate Grinder, Rock crusher, Lapidary polishing wheel, Research‐grade microscopes, Recirculating high-speed centrifuge, Spex Shatterbox, kg-range balance.
Address: 408 Sparks Hall
Clay Mineralogy Lab and GSU K-Ar Geochronology Lab
The Clay Lab provides the facilities to do many of the procedures in many clay labs. Namely, the separation of sand, silt and clay fractions from argillaceous rocks and soils using chemical pretreatments to remove cement and centrifugation to isolate the clay size fractions. Additionally, we have performed heavy mineral separations to concentrate rare-earth and other related elements. Over and above, we are also able to perform K-Ar geochronologic analyses of potassic bearing clays. The K-Ar dates have been useful in the study of the thermal histories of sedimentary basins. It is one of the few K-Ar labs still in operation.
Faculty Member: Crawford Elliott
Equipment: Heraeus Floor Centrifuge, DI water polisher, Blue LIne Laboratory Oven, Argon Isotope extraction line (MS-10 mass spectrometer), Metter Analytical Balance (0.01 mg), Sorvall Benchtop Centrifuge, sample splitters, dialysis tank.
Address: 409 Sparks Hall
Conservation Paleobiology Lab
The Conservation Paleobiology lab is dedicated to research and education that bridges connections between modern ecosystems and the fossil record given a world increasingly impacted by humans. The wet lab is set up for the observational and experimental study of modern marine invertebrates. Live specimens presently housed in saltwater aquaria include hermit crabs, gastropods, and bivalves. Questions related to ecology, evolution, and anthropogenic change are additionally addressed through the processing of paleontological material and analytical work on modern and fossil shells in this lab.
Faculty Member: Christy Visaggi
Equipment: Saltwater aquaria, ultrasonic bath, diamond band saw, field equipment for sedimentary environments.
Address: 412 Sparks Hall
Contact Us
The Department of Geosciences
Office Hours:
Monday - Friday
8:30 a.m. - 5:15 p.m.
Office/Delivery Address
38 Peachtree Center Ave. SE
7th Floor
Suite 730
Atlanta, GA 30303