Laboratory facilities

High-resolution paleoclimatology requires the capability to generate LOTS of data and develop accurate and precise age models. The primary source of my paleoclimate reconstructions is the stable isotope geochemistry of carbonate materials - in corals, caves, and lakes. I maintain a stable isotope lab facility dedicated to the analysis of carbonate materials (Micromass Optima with Isocarb sample preparation device). Research specialist and MS candidate Heidi Barnett is responsible for day-to-day operations; graduate students routinely learn to use this instrument to analyze their own samples.

I have also recently acquired an inductively coupled atomic emission spectrometer (ICP-AES), which opens new avenues for elemental analyses in support of paleoenvironmental research, both within and beyond my particular projects. One important application of this instrument will be to measure Sr/Ca in corals, which provides excellent paleotemperature information. This instrument was funded as part of a Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) grant from NSF, led by Mike Evans of the Tree-ring Lab. Additional new instrumentation to be acquired under this grant includes a scanning micro-XRF, additional stable isotope mass spectrometer (with water and organics capabilities), a densitometer, and a laser particle-size analyzer. (See Evans and Overpeck web pages for more details!).

These instruments add to an already impressive collection of analytical facilities here at UA that graduate students can tap for paleoenvironmental and other research. Examples of other analytical facilities routinely used by paleoclimate graduate students include the Arizona/NSF AMS lab (radiocarbon and cosmogenic analyses), thermal ionization and ICP mass spec labs (U/Th dating and other isotopic measurements), and stable isotope mass spectrometry facilities for analyses of water, nitrogen, and organic C isotopes.

For information on submitting samples for stable isotopic or elemental analysis, contact me.