Geochemistry Facilities at UNL
Bessey Hall is proud to house the University of Nebraska Isotope and Trace Element, or UNITE Geochemistry Lab. This dedicated geochemistry lab includes a filtered-air, ISO-7 cleanroom for the dissolution of sensitive rock samples and separation of trace metals, a cleanroom gowning space, chemical and supply storage, and a bench work area for microscopy and sample preparation. The cleanroom is a single room containing countertop and fume hood workspaces, two ultraclean filtered-air flow boxes for handling low level materials and open fuming, a precision balance, an 18.2 megaohm water purification unit, two stills for preparing ultrapure distilled acid, three Analab Evapoclean devices for contained sample digestion, several coated Analab hot plates, an ultrasonic bath, and two centrifuges. Methods currently implemented in the lab include silicate rock sample digestion, and spiking and chemical separation of Sr, Nd, Pb, Hf, U, Th, and Ra for isotope analysis. We currently maintain spike solutions (and calibrating standards) for isotope dilution analysis of U, Th, and Ra.
Other facilities in Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at UNL include the Optically Stimulated Luminescence facility in Bessey Hall, which hosts a research quality gamma spectrometry instrument. We are also exploring acquiring and implementing analytical methods for a high precision alpha spectrometry device. EAS also has handheld XRF and SEM-EDS capabilities in the department, as well as access to additional instrumentation through centers at the university, such as the XRD and SEM facilities in UNL's Nanoscience Center.
Collaborating Institutions
The group maintains and develops research partnerships around the world, including a number of other geochemistry labs and instrumentation facilities. Most recently, those collaborative facility partnerships have included University of Wyoming, University of Texas at Austin, University of South Carolina, and the Oregon State University Argon Geochronology Lab, among others.
