There are approximately 11 EOAS faculty members that utilize the world class facility of The National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (NHMFL) with research interest in chemical and biological oceanography and a range of geology. Additionally, there are approximately 10 research scientists, over 40 graduate students and numerous undergraduates that use the facilities for research related activities. This national laboratory is a one of a kind facility that provides access to some of the world’s leading instrumentation. In the Geochemistry Program we have 7 mass spectrometers; 4 plasma instruments to measure a wide range of elemental concentration and isotopic (stable and radiogenic) abundances using an Agilent inductively-coupled-plasma mass-spectrometer (ICP-MS), Theremo Element II ICP-MS, Thermo Element XR ICP-MS and a Thermo Neptune MC-ICP-MS, 2 Thermo gas source isotope-ratio-mass-spectrometers to measure C, N, O and S isotopes and a Finnigan MAT 252 thermal-ionization-mass-spectometer (TIMS).
This research facility provides access to cutting-edge analytical instrumentation to identify and quantify the chemical composition of various earth materials. Additionally, there are several sample prepation labs that include a class 100 trace-metal clean lab, rock cutting and powdering, chemical separation via distillation and other facilities. The “MagLab” has numerous other potential analytical facilities for researchers that include various size nuclear-magnetic-resonance (NMR) instruments and ion-cyclotron-resonance (ICR) mass spectrometry to characterize materials. The majority of users associated with the Geochemistry Program focus on the use of trace elements and isotopes to understand and constrain various Earth processes and the environment in the broadest sense. The research ranges from understanding abiological and biological controls on modern ocean chemistry, environmental issues associated with modern pollution and oil spills, feedbacks associated with ancient climate change, animal migration patterns, mantle geochemistry through volcanism and hydrothermal plumes, and planetary formation and cosmochemistry.