The SIMS laboratory is an open user facility intended to support the needs of the global geochemical community. It offers six modes of operation: Isotopic Analyses, Trace Element Analyses, Geochronology, Imaging, Depth Profiling, Particle Search.

Equipment: fully equipped, large geometry SIMS instrument and associated instruments

The PISA facility combines the state-of-the-art imaging and spectral technologies for all kinds of research applications. It consists of a range of electron microscopes with various detectors including EBSD and EDS, and optical microscopes.

The Remote Sensing and Geoinformatics Section has a well equipped spectral laboratory. The Spectroscopy Laboratory supports developments in optical remote sensing.

Equipment: Laboratory UV/Vis/NIR/TIR spectrometers, field spectroradiometers in the Vis/NIR and TIR range, hyperspectral cameras Vis/NIR/TIR, mobile x-ray fluorescence analyses

The Bubble & Volcano Lab is an experimental laboratory to study bubble processes in hydrothermal and volcanic terrain.

In our high-pressure labs we experimentally simulate the conditions ranging from the Earth’s crust to the deep mantle.

Equipment: Hydrothermal laboratory, internally heated pressure vessel (IHPV), Piston Cylinder Press, Multi-Anvil Press, Piston Cylinder/Multi Anvil Press

Equipment: X-ray diffractometry (XRD), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), inductive coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES), inductive coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), ion chromatography (IC), low-temperature calorimetry, gas-mass spectrometry (MS), gas chromatography (GC).

In the HELGES laboratory, water, sediment, rock or plant samples can be analyzed for stable metal(loid) isotopes and cosmogenic nuclides in order to investigate the processes of the Earth's surface and the Critical Zone.

Equipment: Clean laboratory for cosmogenic nuclides, clean laboratory for stable metal(loid) isotopes, sample preparation laboratories, UV-femtosecond-laser-ablation, Neptune multicollector ICP mass spectrometer (MS), Element 2 ICP MS, Quadropol ICP MS, Varian ICP-OES, Spectro ICP-OES, Microwave sample digestion system, Iridium Strip Heater.

The Cryo-Microbiology Labs is a lab complex focused on the biological aspects related to microbe-mineral interface reactions in cryogenic and non-cryogenic environments. Our research addresses a series of culture-dependent and -independent techniques as well as the characterization of the dynamics of dissolved and particulate carbon in various environmental samples.

The Environmental Mineralogy and Biogeochemistry Labs is an integrated laboratory suite designed for studying the formation of nature-inspired and synthetic mineral phases, and their interactions with nutrients and contaminants. This facility is therefore well-equipped for the synthesis of various minerals (e.g., silicates, (oxyhydr)oxides, sulfides, sulfates, carbonates, phosphates) and their characterization using a wide-range spectroscopic and scattering techniques.

The laboratory for microscopy focuses on the specific requirements of microfacies analysis of lake sediments, but also offers a wide range of possibilities for other applications.

In the organic-geochemical Laboratories both biotic and abiotic transformation processes of sedimentary organic matter from shallow to deep, young to old, terrestrial to marine, and from molecular to basin scales are investigated.

This laboratory deals with magnetostratigraphic dating of paleoclimate archives and the reconstruction of geomagnetic field variation in the geological past, as well as with analyses of magnetic minerals.

To further the use of the Earth's subsurface for energy applications (e.g. geothermal and storage), several laboratories are operated by Section 4.3 (Geoenergy) that permit to simulate in situ reservoir conditions and to perform measurements and experiments on relevant rocks and fluids and their physical and chemical interactions.

Equipment: Dedicated laboratories for rock mechanics and rock physics, fluid chemistry and fluid physics, fluid monitoring, fibre optics and hydrogen research

Research into geodynamic processes requires the quantification and characterization of the controlling factors. The Laboratory for Experimental Tectonics at the GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences (HelTec) is an integrated laboratory that models geodynamic processes using a wide variety of tools and methods.

Equipment: Rheometry, Viscosimeter, Ring-shear tester, Axial tester, Sonic/Ultrasonic probing, Sandbox standards (compression, extension, strike-slip), Vice setup (pure shear), Gravitational/isostatic flow, Intrusion, Impact, Custom mades, Digital image correlation, Laserscanner, Force/pressure sensors, MEMS accelerometers, Piezotransducers

The Dendroclimatology Laboratory serves for the reconstruction of temporal and spatial variability of the climate of the past utilizing multi-parameter tree ring analysis.

In the laboratory for tephrochronology, visible and invisible (crypto-) tephras are extracted from sediment records and prepared for geochemical fingerprinting of the volcanic source as a chronological tool for palaeoclimate archives.

For rock deformation experiments we handle different apparatuses, allowing to perform brittle (low temperature) tests on large rock samples (MTS servo-hydraulic press) and high temperature (ductile) experiments on small samples (Paterson-type gas deformation apparatus at high confining pressure, uniaxial creep rig at atmospheric pressure).

The development of geophysical exploration systems with high resolution for underground applications and mobile operation on the surface implicate many interesting problems to be solved with electronics. That is, design and programming of radio-controlled data acquisition systems as well as control systems for seismic impulse and vibrator sources. Another challenging task is the planning, installation and initial operation of electrode arrays in boreholes.