Geochemistry and Radio Isotope Laboratories

Contact:
Web:
Infrastructure belongs to:

Microorganisms interact with their environment as they produce and and consume dissolved compounds that will therefore become depleted or enriched in their surrounding, mainly in the pore water. Analysis of dissolved compounds is therefore a prerequisite for understanding microbial activity in geologic settings. Another major focus of our work in on direct detection of microbial turnover via the use of radioisotopes as those offer unsurpassed sensitivity. As microbial abundance and activity decreases with depth, radiotracers are often the only option to detect these faint traces of life.

Categories

Disciplinary Keywords

Instrumentation

Laboratory instrumentation

Instruments

  • Gas Chromatograph

    Gas chromatography - specifically gas-liquid chromatography - involves a sample being vapourised and injected onto the head of the chromatographic column. The sample is transported through the column by the flow of inert, gaseous mobile phase. The column itself contains a liquid stationary phase which is adsorbed onto the surface of an inert solid. (Source: Global Change Master Directory (GCMD). 2023. GCMD Keywords, Version 16.3. Greenbelt, MD: Earth Science Data and Information System, Earth Science Projects pision, Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). URL (GCMD Keyword Forum Page): https://forum.earthdata.nasa.gov/app.php/tag/GCMD+Keywords)

  • Gas Chromatography Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometer
  • Incubator

    An incubator is an apparatus in which environmental conditions, such as temperature and humidity, can be controlled, often used for growing bacterial cultures, hatching eggs artificially, or providing suitable conditions for a chemical or biological reaction. [The American Heritage Dictionary.] (Source: Global Change Master Directory (GCMD). 2023. GCMD Keywords, Version 16.3. Greenbelt, MD: Earth Science Data and Information System, Earth Science Projects pision, Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). URL (GCMD Keyword Forum Page): https://forum.earthdata.nasa.gov/app.php/tag/GCMD+Keywords)

  • Ion Chromatograph

    Ion Chromatographs are recorders that are used in chromatography; a form of high pressure liquid chromatography using conductivity detectors where a combination of weak ionic solvents are used to separate anions and cations of a solution, with the contribution of the solvent to conductivity suppressed just prior to detection; measures anions such as sulfate, nitrate, and chloride in hydrometers. (Source: Global Change Master Directory (GCMD). 2023. GCMD Keywords, Version 16.3. Greenbelt, MD: Earth Science Data and Information System, Earth Science Projects pision, Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). URL (GCMD Keyword Forum Page): https://forum.earthdata.nasa.gov/app.php/tag/GCMD+Keywords)

  • Oven
  • Photometer

    Photometers are instruments used for measuring the luminance, luminous intensity, or luminance of a light source; similar to a radiometer, but with an output weighted by the wavelength response of the human eye. (Source: Global Change Master Directory (GCMD). 2023. GCMD Keywords, Version 16.3. Greenbelt, MD: Earth Science Data and Information System, Earth Science Projects pision, Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). URL (GCMD Keyword Forum Page): https://forum.earthdata.nasa.gov/app.php/tag/GCMD+Keywords)

  • Scintillation Counter

    SCINTILLATION COUNTERS are recorders that keeps a record of the number of times something happens, in this case scintillation or rapid fluctuations in the amplitude and phase of electromagnetic or acoustic waves that have propagated through a medium containing fluctuations in the refractive index, such as the atmosphere. (Source: Global Change Master Directory (GCMD). 2023. GCMD Keywords, Version 16.3. Greenbelt, MD: Earth Science Data and Information System, Earth Science Projects pision, Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). URL (GCMD Keyword Forum Page): https://forum.earthdata.nasa.gov/app.php/tag/GCMD+Keywords )

Relationships