Our department operates five laboratories. Details of each laboratory’s activities, their equipment, and information about the supervisor are available on the subpages.
Laboratories
Sedimentology Laboratory: In the laboratory, we perform basic work with geological material, such as: opening cores, sampling, drying and burning samples, crushing and grinding samples, grain-size analyses using the sieve method, as well as all other preliminary procedures.
Geochemical Laboratory: In the laboratory, we perform mineralisation of sediment samples using concentrated acids, determine the carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur content in sediments, carry out pigment analyses using spectrophotometry, and analyse nitrogen and phosphorus content in water samples.
Spectrometric Analysis Laboratory: In the laboratory, we measure the activity of Pb‑210 and Cs‑137 isotopes in sediment samples using alpha and gamma spectrometry, determine variations in elemental composition using micro‑XRF scanning, perform microscopic analyses of thin sections, and measure the reflectance of charcoal fragments extracted from sediments.
Hyperspectral Imaging Laboratory: The laboratory is equipped with a Specim® SISU Single Core Scanner hyperspectral scanner, which allows scanning material up to 90 mm in width and 1500 mm in length.
Cosmogenic Nuclides Laboratory: in the laboratory we prepare quartz samples (density separation, froth flotation, HF etching and dissolution, and Be and Al isolation by ion-exchange chromatography) for the analysis of cosmogenic ¹⁰Be and ²⁶Al, with AMS measurements carried out at CEREGE, France. The results are used to determine exposure ages of rock surfaces and boulders and rates of erosion and denudation.
Fieldwork Equipment
- Gravity corers (UWITEC).
- Ekman grab sampler.
- Automatic sediment traps (TECHNICAP).
- EXO-2 multiparameter probe (YSI).
- Water sampling devices (a bathometer and a Niskin bottle).
- Echo sounders.
- GPS units.
- Inflatable boats.
- Cobra gasoline-powered drilling set (Eijkelkamp).
- Hand-operated drilling sets for organic and mineral sediments of varying cohesion (Eijkelkamp).
- Casing pipe set (Eijkelkamp).
- Schmidt hammer (Proceq).
- Laser rangefinder (Bosch).
- Equipment for working at height (various manufacturers).
- Sediment slurry columns (custom-made).