The main mission of the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences is to carry out state-of-the-art scientific research with respect to the functioning of geo- and ecosystems at different spatial and temporal scales, including the interaction between humans and the environment and the sustainable management of natural resources.
A special emphasis is put on petrography, mineralogy and (isotope) geochemistry of archaeological artefacts and their raw materials.
The Archaeometry group of the division of Geology within the department focusses on the study of the use of mineral resources in Antiquity and the organisation and technology of ancient craft production. A special emphasis is put on petrography, mineralogy and (isotope) geochemistry of archaeological artefacts and their raw materials.
All necessary laboratory facilities are available at the associated partner’s institute, including wet chemical laboratories and clean lab facilities for sample preparation and a suit of mass spectrometers including Thermo Delta mass spectrometers and elemental analysers for stable isotopes (e.g. O) and a Thermo Scientific Neptune multi-collector ICP-MS for radiogenic isotopes (e.g. Sr).
state-of-the-art scientific research
Laboratories for wet chemical preparation procedures, including acid dissolution, fusion, microwave digestion (Ethos 900 Milestone with vacuum unit), electrochemical environmental parameter testing (pH, Eh, EC etc.), partial extraction facilities and Ion Chromatography (Dionex ICS2000) for inorganic anions F-, Cl-, Br-, SO42-, NO32-, PO43- etc.
Instruments for chemical analysis include ICP-OES (Varian 720ES), Flame-AAS (Thermo S4), UV-VIS (Varian Techtron635) spectrometry for element analysis.
A class 10 Clean Lab preparation procedure facility and MC-ICP-MS instrument (Thermo Neptune) for radiogenic and heavy isotope ratio measurements, shared with Ghent University, are available.
Handheld X-ray fluorescent spectrometer (Tracer III Bruker) for qualitative and semiquantitative element analysis is available.
Access to FEG-EPMA (with cathodoluminescence imaging), SEM-EDX and Micro- and Nano-CT is shared with Materials Engineering Department. Access to Raman spectrometry is shared with of Chemistry Department.
Laboratories for preparation of thin section, polished section and wafers and a full suite of petrographic microscopes with incident and transmitted light, cathodoluminiscence and fluorescence microscopy and SEM are present. Several stages for fluid inclusion and melt inclusion microthermometry are available.
Facilities for physical characterization of environmental samples such as density, moisture content, particle size, viscosity, magnetic properties, organic matter content, etc are available.
For mineralogical work a suite of X-ray diffractometers with Identification software (Topas and Quanta), TGA/DSC (Nerzch), ATR FT-IR (Alfa Bruker) are present.
Research infrastructure of the division Geology
Laboratory and Analytical Facilities include: chemical preparation and analysis and microscopy and Imaging, physical and mineralogical characterization.
Francesca Piovani
Founder, CEO & Architect
Rhye Moore
Engineering Manager
Helga Steiner
Architect
Ivan Lawrence
Project Manager
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