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Oregon State University, CorvallisCollege of Science - Dept. of GeosciencesCollege of Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences - Marine Geology |
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Introduction
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The Department of Geosciences has a diverse group of faculty and students working on petrology, ore geology and volcanology. There is close collaboration with faculty in the marine geology group in the College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences, where many of the analytical facilities are housed. If you join us for coffee at the Beanery (coffee house) across the street at about 10 A.M., you're likely to run into anywhere from 3 to 15 "VIPERS" (members of the Volcanology, Igneous Petrology and Economic Research group). Research projects of faculty and students alike are multifaceted, including a variety of field, dating, geochemical and experimental techniques. Facilities that are most used by faculty and students of the VIPER group are the Cameca SX-100 electron microprobe, the ICP-MS facility (including quadrupole and multicollector instruments) that includes in-situ laser ablation capacity, 40Ar-39Ar dating lab, oxygen isotope silicate extraction line, He isotope analytical lab (plus soon to be arriving noble gas mass spectrometer), and a TRIGA reactor for neutron activation analysis. Most of these facilities are used on a cooperative basis with other groups on campus. All said, most elements of geological interest are analytically accessible. The department also houses a variety of rock preparation facilities and petrographic research microscopes with melt and fluid inclusion heating/cooling stages as well as digital capture and image processing capabilites.
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Research Foci
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Faculty
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Graduate Students
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Current
Recently Finished
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Postdocs
Isabelle Chambefort (working with John Dilles)
Perrine Paquereau (working with Anita Grunder)
Facilities
Plasma ICP-MS and Multicollector ICP-MS LabsThe Keck collaboratory in College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences (COAS) has been jointly funded by the Keck Foundation, NSF, and OSU's COAS and College of Science (Department of Geosciences). It consists of a number of plasma-based instruments: a VG ExCell quadrupole ICP-MS, a VG Axiom high-resolution single collector sector field ICP-MS, a Leeman Teledyne Optical Emission Spectrometer, and a NuPlasma multicollector ICP-MS. Two laser ablation systems are available for in-situ analyses of trace element and isotopic comspotions: a DUV 193 nm ArF Excimer laser and UP-213 nm quintupled Nd-YAG laser. Adam Kent (Geosciences) has developed a set of working solid standards for Laser Ablation-ICP-MS, and protocols for analysis of including NIST glasses and USGS sulfide, phosphate, and carbonates doped with trace elements.
Geochemical labs are housed in both COAS (including a 2003 Class II clean lab), and DOG and have for sample dissolution facilities for rocks and minerals (including a 14 cell microwave digestion unit). David Graham (COAS), Adam Kent (Geo), and Jim McManus (COAS) plan to set up column chemistry for extraction of Nd, Sr, Pb and Mo for isotopic analysis with the Nu multicollector.
Electron
microbeam analyzer lab (Cameca SX-100, purchased 2003)
Analysis of major and trace elements in rocks, minerals, and alloys, housed
in COAS at OSU. Lab includes oxide, silicate, sulfide, and metal standards,
carbon coating, and imaging systems as well as a microscope.
Sample prep
& photography
The Dept of Geosciences houses standard rock crushing,
sawing, polishing and mineral separations labs. Petrographic microscopes (transmitted
& reflected with standard photography are available), and was outfitted
in 2002 with a Nikon DX-100 (12 Megapixel) digital camera and computer
interface with imaging software.
Vacuum lines
for O, S, & H extraction from rocks and minerals
The Dept of Geosciences
houses vacuum lines (Dilles and Grunder) for extraction of oxygen via
laser fluorination using ClF3 and a CO2 laser, and conversion of O2 to
CO2 for isotopic analysis. They also maintain a vacuum line for extraction
of hydrogen (U-reduction) from minerals and fluids for isotopic analyses,
and a vacuum extraction line that allows extraction of sulfur from sulfides
for isotopic analyses.
Stable Isotope
Lab
Alan Mix (OSU-COAS) operates and maintains three gas-source mass
spectrometers, including Finnigan 251 and 252 for static mode, and a Delta
Plus for Continuous Flow mode (purchased by NSF, Mix et al., ). The latter
has C, H, N, and S isotope capabilities via a Carlo Erba EA/GC that has
both an oxidation furnace (for organic C, H, & S) and reduction furnace
for organic (N). NSF funds will allow purchase in 2003 of a Finnigan TC/EA
(carbon reduction 1500°C) furnace for analysis of H, O, and C isotopes
from a variety of sulfate, carbonate, and hydrous minerals). This instrument
would interface with the existing Delta Plus CF mass spectrometer.
USGS-type gas flow fluid inclusion heating/freezing stage, Olympus BX-60 microscope, and video system (purchased 1998 under an NSF equipment grant to Dilles, 1998).
Vernadsky high temperature melt inclusion stage. Recently acquired allows heating of small samples to +1200*C and rapid quench.
Ar-Ar dating
lab
Operated and maintained by Professor Robert Duncan, COAS. Includes
vacuum line, Ta furnace & UV laser heating systems, and getters inline
with a gas source mass spectrometer for Ar-Ar isotopic analyses.
He isotope
lab Vacuum extraction lines and a mass spectrometer
Operated and maintained by Dr. David Graham and Dr. John Lupton at
the COAS facility in Newport, OR. Recent funding has provided for
purchase of a noble gass mass spectrometer and extraction line system
Ore deposits
hand sample and mineral collection
Maintained by John Dilles and incorporates
C.W. Field collection; it includes samples from more than 30 porphyry
copper deposits of the American Cordillera, as well as numerous other
ore deposits.
Maintained by Adam Kent (adam.kent<at>geo.oregonstate.edu). Last updated 1/2007