Facilities

Experimental Petrology

The laboratory is building new facilities for experimental petrology. The equipment is used to perform crystallization/melting experiments on magmatic rocks in order to constrain phase equilibria and crystal/melt partition coefficients.

Vertical one atmosphere furnace with gas mixing facilities

The GERO furnace can be operated up to 1800°C and contains a ceramic tube through which various gases can flow (CO2, CO, H2, SO2). The mixing of these gases in various proportions is particularly suitable to control the fugacity of oxygen and sulfur. The equipment is used to perform crystallization/melting experiments on magmatic rocks in order to constrain phase equilibria and crystal/melt partition coefficients for major and trace elements.

Piston-cylinder

A piston-cylinder system consists of a press, pressure vessel, stack components and associated hydraulic control systems that can reach pressure conditions of 0.5 to 4 GPa up to 2000°C. The equipment is a ½” Boyd-England style end-loaded piston cylinder apparatus that uses the hot piston-in technique.

XRF

X-ray fluorescence spectrometry ARL PERFORM-X 4200

Major elements analyses

SiO2, Al2O3, TiO2, Fe2O3total, MnO, MgO, CaO, Na2O, K2O, P2O5, LOI

on glass discs prepared with lithium metaborate and finely ground, ignited rock samples (2hr at 1000°C) (sample: 0.5g)

Trace elements analyses

Nb, Y, Zr, Sr, Rb, U, Th, Pb, Zn, Ni, Co, Ga, Ba, Cr, Ce

on pressed powder pellets. Matrix effects corrected with the Compton scatter or by calculating absorption coefficients (sample: 4g)

Semi-quantitative analysis

scanning of the X-ray spectrum of major and trace elements above 500ppm (sample: 4g)

Susceptometer

Kappabridge KLY-3S susceptometer (AGICO Inc.)

Measurements of AMS (anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility) and MS (bulk magnetic susceptibility)

Shared with F. Boulvain

Other techniques

Expertise in optical microscopy (reflected and transmitted light) of magmatic and metamorphic rocks

Mineralogical separation (heavy liquids, centrifugation, Frantz magnetic separation)