Geoscience sample preparation laboratories
Chemical and physical preparation of geoscientific samples
The sample preparation laboratories at the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin offer infrastructure specifically tailored to geoscientific research projects for the chemical and physical preparation of solid and loose rock samples, minerals and fossils. In two laboratory rooms, samples—whether from the collections or brought in directly from fieldwork—can be prepared for further scientific analysis.
The work is carried out in close collaboration with the palaeontological collections, researchers, students and other laboratory and preparation units at the museum.
What are geoscience sample preparation laboratories used for?
The geoscience processing laboratories are particularly suitable for:
- physical and chemical preparation of geoscientific samples (e.g. unconsolidated rocks, consolidated rocks, minerals, fossils)
- preparing geoscientific material for scientific analysis
- interdisciplinary projects in collaboration with collections, research and exhibitions
Contact
Dr Ludwig Luthardt
Head of Laboratory & Contact Person
Email: Ludwig.Luthardt@mfn.berlin
Telephone: +49 30 889140-8403
PD Dr Oliver Hampe
Head of Laboratory
Email: Oliver.Hampe@mfn.berlin
Telephone: +49 30 889140-8678
Use and collaboration
The laboratory facilities are available to museum staff and researchers working on joint projects. Laboratory work may be carried out independently following detailed consultation with the laboratory management and after receiving appropriate training, in compliance with statutory health and safety regulations.
Due to high usage and limited space and staffing capacity, work for external researchers in the sample preparation laboratories can currently only be carried out to a limited extent. A prerequisite for this is that the work is thematically linked to the museum’s research questions.
For enquiries regarding geoscientific sample preparation, please contact the relevant contact person.
Features
- Two fully equipped laboratories: slurry laboratory & hydrofluoric acid laboratory
- Simple acid fume cupboard, hydrofluoric acid fume cupboard
- Sieve towers with vibrating plate
- Sink with sediment trap and acid neutralisation
- Digestion baths with fume cupboards
- Storage cabinets for various hazardous substances
- Drying ovens
- Hot plates
- Weighing equipment
- Simple stereo microscopes for sample analysis
- Centrifuges
- Ultrapure water system
- Multi-position heating stirrer block system
- Muffle furnace
Laboratory procedures and analytical methods
- Screen analysis and fractionation of unconsolidated rock samples
- Slurrying of sediment samples
- Titration of slurried samples
- Chemical digestion of minerals and rock samples (e.g. carbonate digestion or silicate digestion using hydrofluoric acid)
- Extraction and maceration of organic residues (e.g. from fossil plant cuticles or spores/pollen)
- Preparation of various specimens for further scientific analysis (e.g. for microscopy or chemical analysis)
- Chemical preparation of radionuclides for measurements using accelerator mass spectrometry
Application in research and projects
Application in research and projects
æ Korn, D., Schmid, F.E., Struck, U. (2023). Organic carbon isotope stratigraphy of Devonian-Carboniferous boundary sections in the Rhenish Mountains. Palaeobiodiversity and Palaeoenvironments, 104(3), 707-733. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12549-023-00584-0
æ Feige, J., Airo, A., Berger, D., Brückner, D., Gärtner, A., Genge, M., Leya, I., Habibi Marekani, F., Hecht, L., Klingner, N., Lachner, J., Li, X., Merchel, S., Nissen, J., Patzer, A.B.C., Peterson, S., Schropp, A., Sager, C., Suttle, M.D., Trappitsch, R., Weinhold, J. (2024). Transport of dust across the Solar System: Constraints on the spatial origin of individual micrometeorites from cosmic-ray exposure. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 382(2273), 20230197. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2023.0197
æ Arens, F.L., Feige, J., Airo, A., Sager, C., Hecht, L., Horstmann, L., Kaufmann, F.E., Lachner, J., Neumann, T., Nowaczyk, N., Schiperski, F., Steier, P., Stoll, A., Struck, U., Valenzuela, B., Von Blanckenburg, F., Wittmann, H., Wacker, L., Wagner, D., Zamorano, P., Schulze-Makuch, D. (2024). Climate variability in a 3.8 Ma old sedimentary record from the hyperarid Atacama Desert. Global and Planetary Change, 242, 104576. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2024.104576