Research Facilities

The range and scope of our technical facilities are large. Besides the specific equipment mentioned below, many individual professors have working arrangements with colleagues in a variety of other schools and institutions whereby they and their students can benefit from exchanges, free analyses or free use of equipment.

The geological sciences department has facilities for rock cutting and crushing, preparing polished sections and for drafting and photography. Brand new Olympus petrographic microscopes and photomicrograph facilities are available to graduate students. Students can also borrow geology field instruments and some camping equipment.

We have excellent computing facilities, ranging from the university mainframe to microcomputers. There are three computing rooms in the college, housing microcomputers and terminals for student use. We also have a state-of-the-art Geovisualization Facility for the visualization and analysis of large 3-D datasets and other geologic data.

Our geochemical and mineralogical facilities are impressive and include an excellent new, state-of-the-art, ICP AES and HPLC chemical laboratory for chemical analyses. We also have a separate geochemical laboratory for routine analysis and dissolution, an ore laboratory unit with a full range of fluid inclusion equipment, a mineralogy research laboratory, and a geochemical preparation laboratory for rock crushing and mineral separation. Analytical equipment available on campus here or at Washington State University (8 miles away) includes a graphite furnace Atomic Absorption Spectrometer, Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectrometer, Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer, X-Ray Fluorescence, X-Ray Diffraction, Scanning Electron Microscope, Electron Microprobe and Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis.

The geophotography and remote sensing laboratory houses a collection of aerial photographs as well as geologic and topographic maps. The available equipment will take slides, prints and contact prints, make enlargements, develop and reproduce slides and transfer geologic data onto topographic maps.

Our supply of geophysical equipment includes seismic, gravity, magnetic, resistivity and CDM meters, as well as the recently assembled North Idaho Seismic Array.