Facilities
Environmental Geochemistry Lab (Herbert)
This lab includes several centrifuges (high capacity; high speed and refrigerated), a benchtop incubator, an orbital shaker, and a Labcono freeze dry/shell dry system. It also houses a Glas-Col Combo Mantle for extracting, refluzing, and distilling solutions, a Buchi Rotavapor RE 111 for distilling volumes 50 mL to 3 L, a SpectrAA.200 Varian UltrAA for measuring elements in solution, and a Quantasorb surface analyzer.
 
Environmental Geochemistry and Geomicrobiology Instrumentation Labs (Herbert and Tice)
These labs house a Varian 4000 Ion Trap GC/MS/MS for analysis of trace organic biomarkers, a Dionex Ion Chromatograph with a CD 25 conductivity detector, GP50 Gradient Pump and AS40 Automated Sampler, 5890 Series II and 6890 Series Gas Chromatographs with autosampler controllers and dual flame ionization and Electron Capture detectors, a Vario EL III (Elemental Analyzer), an Agilent Capillary Electrophoresis system, a Jenway 6200 Fluorimeter, a 746 VA Trace Analyzer Metrohm Ion Analysis system, a zeta potential analyzer, a Hitachi V-3010 UV/VIS Spectrophotometer, an IR spectrometer, two Percival phototroph incubators, a laminar flow hood with HEPA filter, a Micro Oxymax System respirometer, and an analytical microbalance.
Fossil Collection (Yancey)
The Geobiology program maintains research fossil collections of Carboniferous and Permian and Paleogene macrofossils, with a focus on the rich fossil biotas of Texas and adjoining areas. These collections are supported by preparation facilities with cutting, grinding, air abrasive and chemical processing equipment.
Stable Isotope Geosciences Facility (Grossman)
The Stable Isotope Geosciences Facility is jointly managed by Ethan Grossman with Brendan Roark (Geography) and Niall Slowey (Oceanography). Ithouses a ThermoFinnigan DELTAplusXP isotope ratio mass spectrometer with (1) GasBench II for C, O, and H isotopic analyses of water and C and O isotopic analyses of carbonates; (2) CarloErba combustion elemental analyzer (EA) for C, N, and S isotopic analyses of organic matter; and (3) ThermoFinnigan TC/EA for D and O isotopic analyses of water and O isotopic analyses of phosphates and sulfates. The facility also has a ThermoFinnigan MAT252 Gas Chromatograph-Combustion-IRMS and EA, as well as a new ThermoElectron MAT 253 IRMS and Kiel IV automated carbonate device. A New Wave computer-controlled micromilling system is available for sample preparation.
Evolutionary Geobiology Lab (Tice)
Our lab is equipped with standard equipment for culturing and working with microbes, including incubators, freezers, walk-in cold storage, a PCR thermal cycler and gel imaging system, centrifuges, a combination fluorescence/petrographic microscope, a laminar flow hood and two fume hoods, an anaerobic glovebox, two large phototroph incubators, etc. We also have a Horiba XGT-7000 X-ray fluorescence microanalyzer. This instrument is capable of semiquantitative and quantitative imaging of the distributions of elements from Na to U on samples up to 10 cm x 10 cm with a spot size of 10 or 100 µm and detection limits to a few ppm.
Micropaleontology Lab (Wade)
This lab is currently under construction. It will house facilities for preparation of sediment samples for micropaleontological analysis.