The Argon Geochronology Laboratory at the University of Queensland is a modern isotope facility housed within the Department. The laboratory supports research projects in the fields of weathering, regolith development and the continental environment. Research projects include landscape evolution and regolith formation, paleoclimate reconstruction, geochemical models for mineral exploration, effects of weathering in the formation and supergene enrichment of ore deposits, and environmental management.

The facility consists of four (4) main spaces in the Richards building:

(1) The mass spectrometry room
(2) The radioactive sample manipulation/storage room
(3) The sample preparation/loading room, and
(4) The computer/microscopy/data reduction/student room.

Honours, PhD students and postdocs have already made use of the facility. The Argon Laboratory also performs collaborative projects with international and national institutions in addition to analytical work for selected industrial partners, such as:
Brazil - CNPq
China - Chinese Academy of Science
South Africa - University of Johannesburg
USA - University of Washington, Caltech, Berkeley
Australia - CSIRO, CRC-LEME, James Cook University, Queensland University of Technology, University of Newcastle

For Argon Laboratory Teaching Resources, click here.

The main instrumentation in the facility, a Mass Analyser Products 215-50 noble gas mass-spectrometer and its associated ultra-high vacuum extraction line, became fully operational in May 1997. 

The mass spectrometer is an extended geometry 90° sector E.S.A. equipped with a Nier-type source and a dual collector system (a Faraday detector and a Balzers^TM, 217 electron multiplier). The signal from the electron multiplier is further amplified through a Keithley^TM, 6512 Electrometer, which increases the dynamic range of signals analysed.

The system is fully automated. The ultra-high vacuum extraction line is equipped with two independent heating sources, a Coherent 10W continuous Ar-ion laser and a custom built, Berkeley-type, resistance furnace.

The laser extraction line is further equipped with Newport^TM, stepper- motors and an MM3000 motion controller which allows for the pre-programming of step- heating analyses of up to 221 samples. The sample chamber is continuously monitored through a Sony^TM, CCD camera and the image is viewed in a Sony^TM, Trinitron monitor. Recording of sample heating is possible through a Sony^TM, video-cassette recorder.

Laser-heating experiments are ideally suited to the analyses of very small samples and of very young samples. The high spatial resolution of this heating technique results in intrinsically low blanks. Laser- heating is also very fast and is ideal for geochron- ological applications where heating temperatures do not need to be known. If precise temperature measurements are necessary, the sample can be heated in a double-vacuum 600A-5V resistance furnace equipped with a molybdenum crucible, a niobium heating element, and a custom designed automated loading device capable of handling up to 20 samples.

The laser, resistance furnace, and extraction line gas flow is fully automated through Mass Spec, a Macintosh-based software developed by Al Deino,  from the Berkeley Geochronology Center, Berkeley, Ca.

The whole system is controlled through a Power Macintosh 7100/80 computer. On-line data collection, analyses, and interpretation are also carried-out during normal operation. A Macintosh 7600/132 computer is used for off-line data correction, interpretation, and plotting.