Laboratory of Geochemistry, Geochronology and Isotope Geology

 

The Lab. provides a full range chemical analysis of geological materials. Rocks, minerals and waters can be characterised for their trace element composition and isotopic signature with the most advanced instruments based on mass spectrometry. The Lab. is also equipped to perform high spatial resolution geochronology on common U-rich accessory phases. The access is open to UniMI staff, students and external personnel on request.

 

 

Contacts

Massimo Tiepolo - Phone: +39 02 503 15626

Federico Farina - Phone: +39 02 503 15615

 

Personale di riferimento/Technician:

Gianluca Sessa - Phone: +39 02 503 15589

 

Equipment: Inductively Coupled Plasma – Mass Spectrometry

Thermo Scientific MC-ICP-MS Neptune Plus

The MC-ICP-MS Neptune allows measuring isotopic ratios for geochemical purposes and for U-Pb geochronology. The instrument is a double-focusing multicollector ICP-MS, equipped with an inductively-coupled-plasma source, energy and magnetic mass filters. The Neptune has a high mass resolution detection system with variable multicollectors and multi ion counting.

 

Thermo Scientific ICP-MS iCAP RQ single quadrupole

The ICP-MS iCAP RQ is used for measuring the trace and sub-trace element composition of geological materials. The instrument is a single quadrupole ICP-MS, equipped with a collision reactive cell to remove polyatomic interferences. The detector utilizes a simultaneous combination of pulse and analog counting with accurate cross calibration.

 

Equipment: Laser Ablation system

Teledyne Analite Excite Excimer Laser Ablation System

The laser ablation instrument can be coupled, as sample introduction system, both with MC-ICP-MS and single quadrupole ICP-MS. The air-cooled excimer laser has 193nm ultra-short pulse and the analysis spot size is between 1.0 µm and 155 µm.

 

Equipment: Gas Chromatography

Thermo Scientific GC TRACE 1300

The instrument can be a stand-alone unit or coupled with ICP-MS. Complex mixtures of individual compounds can be injected into the GC (e.g. using the autosampler TriPlus 500 Headspace), and then separated the eluate for presentation to the detector. The detector generates signals that are processed for qualitative identification and quantification of the individual compounds present in the sample.

 

Thermo Scientific TriPlus 500 Headspace Sampler

The autosampler TriPlus 500 Headspace is coupled with the GC TRACE 1300 and generates the partitioning of semi-volatile and volatile compounds from complex liquid and solid          matrices and allows for the injection of the volatile fraction into the GC.