Infrastructure
The infrastructure at the department reflects a modern research department in geosciences with advanced laboratories, a wide range of field equipment as well as access to a research vesel and field stations and to the national netwok of high performance computing.
What we are doing: Analysis of major and trace element compositions in natural waters.
What we are doing: Pre-treatment of geological samples to be analysed in different laboratories.
What we are doing: In-situ microanalysis of major and trace elments in minerals and other solid substances
What we are doing: Analysis of isotopic ratios in solids and solutions.
What we are doing: Extraction and identification of a range of microfossils from sediments and sedimentary rocks (e.g. foraminifera, diatoms, radiolarians, dinoflagellate cysts, pollen, spores).
What we are doing: Low temperature and hydrothermal experiments on minerals to obtain reaction rates and to understand reaction mechanisms. The experimental activity is an important part of the mineral dissolution and growth research group.
What we are doing: Analysis of organic components in oils and environmental samples.
The Oceanography group uses several marine instruments in its teaching and research. The main instrument is the CTD (conductivity-temperature-depth) permanently mounted onboard the RV Trygve Braarud
What we are doing: High-resolution imaging of geological materials (minerals, microfossils), semiquantitative chemical analysis of minerals.
What we are doing: Analysis of the grain-size distribution and other physical properites of sediments and sedimentary rocks.
What we are doing: Preparing thin sections and polished sections of rocks, sediments and minerals for microscopy and microanalysis.
The laboratory is a self-contained functional unit that permits full processing of samples from the extraction of minerals to isotopic measurement and data evaluation.
The main mineral analyzed in the lab is zircon, essentially of any age (so far from 3.5 Ga to 100 ka), by ID-TIMS following the method of Krogh (1973) adapted for smaller samples and modern conditions.
The major perspective of the lab is on the general theme of ‘orogeny through time’.
What we are doing: High-precison U-Pb dating of zircon and other uranium enriched minerals by isotope dilution thermal ionization mass spectrometry (ID-TIMS).
What we are doing: Qualitative identification of minerals in rocks and sediments, quantitative analysis of mineral abundances in rock and sediment samples.
What we are doing: Quantitative chemical analysis of major and trace element components in rock and sediment samples.