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Facilities and Equipment
The Sedimentology and Sediment Geochemistry Labs
These laboratories contain standard equipment for the routine analysis of lake cores including drying ovens, a muffle furnaces, a freeze drier, microscopes, centrifuges, water baths, balances, sieves, equipment for thin-section preparation, etc. In addition, there are facilities for the analysis of smear slides, thin-sections, organic matter and carbonate content, biogenic silica, etc. The Sedimentology Laboratory has an automated magnetic susceptibility track with a Bartington Susceptibility meter and a ME2EI sensor as well as a variety of loop sensors and a number of computers (Macintosh and PC’s). There is a full spectrum light box and digital camera for archiving core features and for measuring gray-scale and color changes. Facilities are available for the extraction and isolation of sediment cellulose, diatoms and pollen. The Sedimentology Laboratory includes a 200sq. ft. cold room for archiving samples and a supply of D-tubes for storing cores. There is an AMS radiocarbon preparation line in the Sediment Geochemistry Laboratory dedicated for work on lacustrine samples. This vacuum line can also be used to prepare samples for d13C measurements.
Field Equipment
The University of Pittsburgh has a wide selection for coring equipment including 3 varieties of surface corers, square-rod Livingston Corers, and a vibra corer as well as boats and associated equipment. A DataSonde Hydrolab is available for limnological measurements as well as a variety of sediment and water sampling equipment. Other field equipment includes GPS units, altimeters, surveying equipment for lake-level studies, a depth finders/GPS unit for mapping bathymetry, etc. A Triton Elics/Edge Tech seismic system is also available for sub-bottom profiling with a suite of processing and georeferencing software.
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