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Geology

Facilities

GEOLOGY DEPARTMENT FACILITIES

We consider the local geology to be our most important facilities (along with the fleet of college vehicles that makes it accessible to our classes). In addition, the department has acquired and continues to acquire excellent instrumentation in an effort to maintain an active program of student-faculty research. The equipment and instrumentation include the following:


EQUIPMENT AND INSTRUMENTATION

  • Automated thin section equipment
  • Rock crushing and powdering equipment to prepare samples for chemical analysis
  • Research petrographic microscopes, including both transmitted and reflected light scopes, a cathode-luminescence scope, and a fluid inclusions stage for analysis of rock thin sections
  • X-ray diffractometer
  • Inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometer for trace-element analysis of rock and water samples
  • Sedimentology/geomorphology lab equipped for physical and chemical analysis of sediments and soils, including automated instrumentation for carbon analysis and a laser particle-size analyzer
  • 2 GPS units
  • 2 Electronic total stations for high-precision field surveying and mapping
  • Field measurement and coring equipment for analysis and sampling of sediments and soils
  • Department computing facility, with both Macintosh and PC computers, color scanning and printing facilities, and an extensive collection of geology-related software
  • Extensive rock, mineral, fossil, map, and air photo collections
  • Access to the Chemistry Department's atomic absorption spectroscopy facilities
  • Access to the Biology Department's scanning and transmission electron microscopes
  • Access to neutron-activation and photogrammetry facilities at the United States Geological Survey in Denver
  • Resistivity meter: IRIS Syscal Junior switch-48 with 24 electrodes
  • Magnetometer: GEM GSM-19GW Overhauser Gradiometer
  • Seismograph: Geometrics 12-channel Geode with 40 Hz vertical geophones
  • Gravimeter: TI Worden
  • Energy dispersive XRF spectrometer

Colorado College's Tutt Library and the William A. Fisher Geology Seminar Room houses a good collection of geology journals. The library is a depository of U.S. Geological Survey publications and maps. Rapid inter-library loan service drawing on nearby facilities at the Air Force Academy, U.S.G.S., and the University of Colorado augment these holdings. An additional resource is the expertise at the U.S.G.S. and at numerous gas, oil, mining, and related industries located in Denver.