Infrastructure: GFZ

HELGES | Helmholtz Laboratory for the Geochemistry of the Earth Surface

The HELGES laboratories building finished in August 2013 and now more than 200 m² of lab space is available for sample preparation and measurements of cosmogenic nuclides (¹⁰Be and ²⁶Al) and stable isotopes of metals and metalloids (currently Li, Mg, Si, Fe, Sr, B) in geological and environmental sample materials, such as sediments, rocks, river water, soils, vegetation.

Two clean labs, class 1000+, with class 10 laminar flow workstations, are available for sample preparation of low concentration samples to avoid contamination in order to obtain accurate measurements. In addition to the clean labs, additional dry and wet chemistry labs provide the necessary equipment for preparation of solid and liquid samples, such as rock crushing, sieving, mineral separation, filtration of water samples, microwave assisted sample dissolution, microscopy and sample preparation for micro-analytical work by laser ablation.

The HELGES labs also accommodate analytical instruments for concentration and isotope ratio measurements on liquid and solid samples. A Thermo Neptune Multicollector Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer (MC-ICP-MS) is used for isotope measurements (Li, Mg, Si, Fe, Sr, B). Concentration measurements are done by Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometry (Varian 720 ES ICP-OES). Both ICP instruments can be coupled to a femtosecond laser ablation system (fsLA-MC-ICP-MS or fsLA-ICP-OES) developed at the GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences to perform in-situ isotope ratio and concentration measurements at the micrometer scale.

Nearly all work conducted in the GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences' HELGES lab falls into one of two categories:

approved collaborative projects that will lead to publications in international scientific journals, and
research projects within the Section 3.3 Earth Surface Geochemistry, including development and improvement of analytical methods.

Laboratories

Clean Laboratory for Cosmogenic Nuclides

In our clean room laboratory for cosmogenic nuclides, we prepare approx. 250 samples per year, mainly for beryllium-10 (¹⁰Be). Applications of in situ ¹⁰Be in quartz make up a smaller part of this. Meteoric ¹⁰Be is becoming more and more popular!

Clean Laboratory For Stable Metal(loid) Isotopes

In our specially designed metal-free clean laboratory, we perform experiments, prepare and purify rocks, soils, waters, vegetation and more for precise concentration and isotope-ratio measurements.

Sample Preparation Laboratories

These laboratories allow the preparation of samples, such as drying, wet or dry sieving, magnetic separation, separation by means of color differences (“mineral sorter”), chemical separation steps (mainly used for quartz purification - e.g. by feldspar flotation with dodecylamine, with ortho-phosphoric acid, ultrasonic baths/hotdog rollers with weak hydrofluoric acid), as well as filtration, weighing, melting, dilution, etc.

Instruments

UV Femtosecond Laser Ablation

With the ultrashort laser pulse length and UV range laser to achieve high-resolution in-situ micro-scale analyses of both isotope ratios and element concentrations.

Neptune | Multicollector ICP-MS

The capacity to monitor up to nine isotope beams simultaneously at variable mass-resolution means the Neptune can yield highly precise isotope ratios for metals and metalloids across the whole periodic table.

Element 2 | High Resolution ICP-MS

With high sensitivity, large dynamic range and the capacity to resolve out molecular interferences, the Element 2 is well-suited to determine trace element concentrations in challenging matrices.

iCAP Q | Quadrupole ICP-MS

The iCAP Q can scan rapidly across multiple masses in a single analysis, and is equipped with a reaction cell to reduce polyatomic interferences, making it a workhorse for low-level element concentration analysis.

Spectro & Varian | ICP-OES

Depending on the composition of the samples, the ICP-OES from Spectro or the ICP-OES from Varian can be used to determine main and trace elements. The “Spectro” allows exceptional sensitivity and a high possible matrix load (e.g. salt samples) due to its radial plasma view as well as the DualSideOn interface and argon humidifier. The “Varian” has a better detection limit for many elements due to its axial plasma view.

Section 3.3 | Earth Surface Geochemistry