Research in the Earth and Space Sciences is frequently observationally driven; discoveries follow from the ability to observe our world in new ways. Our laboratories are equipped with a suite of state-of-the-art instruments that permit us to undertake a wide variety of experimental investigations. Facilities include:
- The W.M. Keck Foundation Center for Isotope Geochemistry which houses the CAMECA ims 1270, the nation’s first high-resolution/high-sensitivity ion microprobe, as well as two VG sector thermal ionization mass spectrometers
- A high-resolution Finnigan Neptune multiple-collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer commissioned in 2003; the Neptune is capable of both high precision radiogenic or stable isotope analyses with sampling either by in situ laser ablation or chemical separation
- Clean room and mineral separation facilities to support the isotope geochemistry laboratories
- A new laboratory equipped with two Finnigan gas-source mass spectrometers for small sample stable-isotope analyses by ultra-violet laser ablation or infrared laser heating
- A noble gas laboratory with two VG mass spectrometers equipped with both laser and resistance heating gas extraction for thermochronological investigations using Ar-Ar and U-He methods
- Experimental petrology laboratories with high-temperature furnaces and low-, moderate-, and high-pressure piston-cylinder devices
- A mineral physics laboratory equipped with a diamond cell apparatus that has capabilities for ruby fluorescence, Raman spectroscopy, and double-sided laser heating and imaging spectroradiometry
- A new JEOL SuperProbe electron microprobe analyzer with five spectrometers
- A LEO 1430VP variable pressure scanning electron microscope with an energy-dispersive x-ray analyzer and cathodoluminescence detector
- A gamma-ray spectrometry laboratory for neutron-activation analyses
- A new experimental geophysical fluid-dynamics laboratory with a one-meter diameter rotary table, a large-volume solenoid, and state-of-the-art velocimetry systems
- A portable array of broadband seismometers
- The campus seismic network part of the Center for Embedded Networked Sensing, an inter-disciplinary NSF Science and Technology Center developing sensor networks technology
We also have off-road field vehicles, a museum and teaching collection, thin-section and rock-crushing labs, electronics and prototyping shops. A GIS database and map server, and a computerizedVisualization Portal are also located nearby on campus.
Library
Location: Geology 4697
Phone: (310) 825-1055
The UCLA Library is one of the top-ranked research libraries in the United States. It is greatly enhanced by the California Digital Library (CDL), which supports on-line the shared collections of the University of California and others, including the Melvyl Union Catalog, the California Periodicals database, CDL-hosted databases, archival collections held by UC and other California universities and museums, electronic journals, and other scholarly resources.
The Geology/Geophysics Collection located in the Geology Building is part of the Science & Engineering Library (SEL), which also includes Chemistry, Physics, and Engineering/Mathematical Sciences collections located nearby. The Geology/Geophysics Collection is one of the largest repositories of geoscience literature in the country. It is strong in geology, geochemistry, geophysics, space physics, planetary science, and regional geology. Field-trip guidebooks, open-file reports, and CD-ROM databases are collected in addition to books and journals.
The adjoining William C. Putnam Map Collection holds 90,000 topographic and geologic maps, and is a depository library for USGS geologic map series and topographic maps for California, Nevada, and Arizona.