Clean Labs
There are two clean isotope labs located within the Jackson School of Geosciences. One clean lab is headed by Prof. Jay Banner and is primarily used to process water and carbonate samples for Sr isotope analyses as well as speleothem samples for U-series analyses. The second clean lab is headed by Prof. John Lassiter where silicates are processed for Sm-Nd, Rb-Sr, Lu-Hf, Re-Os and Li isotope analyses.
Lassiter Clean Lab
Outer room in the Lassiter clean lab. This space is primarily used for cleaning teflon, distilling acids and oven digestion of rocks. Samples in this space are dried down within clean boxes where HEPA-filtered air is directly flowing over samples. This space also houses a Milli-Q water system that generates 18.2 megaohm water as well as a high pressure asher used to process samples for Re-Os isotope analysis.
Inner room in the Lassiter clean lab. In this space samples are weighed, samples are dissolved and ion exchange chemistry is performed. Chemistry is done in HEPA-filtered, vertical laminar flow work stations. In addition to Rb-Sr, Sm-Nd and Re-Os, Li and Lu-Hf chemistry are performed in this space, where those isotopes are analysed in-house on the NuPlasma3D.
HEPA-filtered vertical laminar flow bench used for loading samples onto metal filaments for TIMS analysis. The power supply unit shown here is used to dry samples once they are loaded onto metal filaments or out-gassing Pt filaments for Re-Os isotope analysis.
Banner Clean Lab
Primary laboratory space in the Banner clean lab. The lab is equipped with seven Class-100 work spaces that are used to prepare water, carbonate and soil samples for isotope analysis. In the lab there are HEPA-filtered laminar for work stations. Hot plates for drying down samples are located within the the HEPA-filtered spaces. The lab is fitted with a wash down hood for use of perchloric acid as well as a Teflon still for producing ultra clean acid and a water polisher for making 18.2 megaohm water.
Secondary space within the Banner clean. Within this space, which is also a HEPA-filtered room, samples are weighed on an analytical or top-loading balance. As well in this space, samples ready for analysis on the TIMS can be loaded onto filaments within a laminar flow, HEPA-filtered work station.