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Mass spectrometer laboratory. This room houses two automated UHV gas extraction systems with CO2 lasers. Each is attached to a noble gas mass spectrometer.
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Sample preparation and radioactive storage. Binocular microscopes and balance used to hand-pick and weigh samples.
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This laser chamber holds single crystals of sanidine, or larger volcanic groundmass samples.
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The Cameron Electron Microscope Laboratory. This Scanning Electron Microscope is used to screen crystals of feldspar prior to irradiation.
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The Rock Crushing Room has a jaw crusher and disc mill (above) for preparing samples.
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Sample Preparation Laboratory. Frantz barrier separator exploits differences in magnetic susceptibility between minerals to extract sanidine or volcanic groundmass.
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Sample Preparation Laboratory. Ultrasonic probe and two-stage liquid sorting apparatus is used to disaggregate clay-rich volcanic ash (bentonite) samples.
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Community building. WiscAr lab hosted the October 2013 NSF EarthCube workshop for 70 participants from around the country and overseas.
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Research at Laguna del Maule Volcanic Field. Brad and students are working to understand the Latest Pleistocene to Recent evolution of rhyolites on the crest of the Southern Andes.
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Redefining the Cretaceous Time Scale & Broadening Impact. With Brad Sageman (middle left) and Steve Meyers, WiscAr is improving the Cretaceous time scale. At Pueblo State Park in Colorado, we installed signs to inform the public about the significance of the Cenomanian-Turonian GSSP located in the park.

The rock record continually stimulates ideas about Earth processes. The ability to quantify the rates of these processes and to rigorously test specific cause-effect relationships requires a time scale. Hence, advances in geochronology — the science of using isotopes to determine the age of Earth materials — have led to many of the transformative ideas and discoveries in the geosciences. The modern variant of the K-Ar clock, the 40Ar/39Ar method, is among the most powerful and widely used chronometers.

The WiscAr Laboratory is a state-of-the-art 40Ar/39Ar dating facility capable of addressing questions spanning the entirety of Earth history. 40Ar/39Ar dating can be applied to a wide range of problems in volcanology, igneous petrology, metamorphic petrology, structural geology and tectonics, paleobiology and climate change in deep time, and refining geomagnetic time scales.

WiscAr infrastructure includes two fully-automated mass spectrometers for incremental heating or laser fusion analyses, rock preparation and mineral separation facilities, optical microscopes, and a scanning electron microscope and electron microprobe in the Department of Geoscience. Techniques are continually refined to provide the precise geochronology needed for each project. Details about laboratory construction and facilities can be found under Infrastructure.

The goal of our research program is to broadly train students for careers that will impact the future of Earth Sciences. Visit the WiscAr Personnel page for profiles of our staff and students.

Questions regarding WiscAr’s capabilities and services can be referred to Dr. Brad Singer or Dr. Brian Jicha.

Read more at the lab blog
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