In addition to a large array of analytical instruments maintained by individual faculty, the Department supports a variety of material characterization instruments for graduate students and researchers on a recharge basis.

Computer Facilities
There are 30 Pentium PC and several Apple Macintosh computers for the Department. Students can also use dozens of computer labs scattered around the campus. With a nominal fee students can print and scan.

Instructional Computer Lab, 335 McCone. Several EPS courses make use of this teaching lab of 15 PCs. By permission of the EPS Computing Committee, students may also use this facility for special projects when available.

EPS Advanced Computer Use Lab, 335 McCone. The Advanced Computer Use Lab is supported by 2 Macintosh computers (one of which has an attached slide scanner) and one Windows NT computer. An HP LaserWriter for black & white printing, and an HP2500C for color printing are in 335, and are available over the network from individual offices. These ACU computers are not for use by undergrads.

Geophysics Computing Lab, 241 McCone. Members of the geophysics faculty jointly support a network of high performance Unix workstations, servers and peripherals. This computer lab is designed for computer intensive geophysics research.

Electron Microprobe (EPMA). The Department of Earth and Planetary Science Cameca SX-51 electron microprobe is a customized analytical instrument with 5 wavelength dispersive spectrometers (WDS), a high resolution quantitative energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS) system, along with backscatter electron (BSE), secondary electron (SE), absorbed current (ABS) and cathodo-luminescence (CL) imaging in addition to both reflected and transmitted light viewing. X-ray mapping and analysis automation using both beam and stage scanning is available for ultra-low magnification imaging. The EDS system includes both a beryllium (Be) and atmospheric thin.

Library facilities. Berkeley campus libraries house more than 9.1 million volumes, with 78,891 current serials, 6.26 million microform items and provide access to more than 5,300 electronic journals via UC's California Digital Library.

Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM)
In cooperation with the Department of Mechanical Engineering, the Department of Earth and Planetary Science has recently purchased a fully digital Leo 430 SEM. The new SEM is available for general research and undergraduate teaching. The SEM operates under a standard Windows 3.11 OS and Pentium PC platform.
With the addition of a Peltier cooled charge coupled device (CCD) fiber optic camera in 1998, the new SEM is primarily being utilized for electron backscatter pattern (EBSP) and orientation imaging (OIM). Through a network dynamic data exchange (Net DDE) interface, the SEM column, beam and stage are controlled via an off-line high-end Pentium PC for totally automated operation.

Texture Lab
The Department of Earth and Planetary Science at UC Berkeley, in collaboration with the Department of Mechanical Engineering, maintains a laboratory dedicated to the study of preferred orientation (texture) and anisotropy of polycrystalline materials. Various aspects are measurements, data analysis and interpretation. Applications include rocks, metals, polycrystalline films, ceramics, superconductors, biological specimens (bones, shells). The facilites are available to outside users as demand permits. A nominal fee is charged to offset maintenance costs. Software of x-ray pole figure analysis and ODF calculation (BEARTEX) is available and in the future software for neutron diffraction Rietveld analysis (RITA) and individual orientation measurements by EBSP (SEMTEX) will be introduced.

Extensive use of the microprobe and SEM facilities within the department is made by researchers such as Alvarez, Brimhall, Carmichael, Jeanloz, Jones, and Wenk, encompassing such diverse areas as igneous petrology, ore geology, surficial weathering, crystallography, mineralogy, geophysics and regional geology. Significant use by other university departments include the departments of Chemistry (electronic, semi-conductor and super conducting materials), Material Sciences and Mineral Engineering (ceramic metal interfaces, electronic and super conducting materials, sulfide semi-conductors), Soil Sciences (clay mineralogy, volcanic ash deposits), Civil Engineering (cement and rebar corrosion and mineralogy studies), and Mechanical Engineering (high strength/ wear resistant alloys and coatings). In addition frequent use of the facilities are made by the Berkeley Geochronology Center staff for investigation of both geological and anthropological studies.

The XRF laboratory is also a widely used facility both within and outside the department for destructive and non-destructive chemical analysis of whole rock powders, flux disolutions and artifacts. Frequent users include the igneous and experimental petrology group, ore geology and the Department of Anthropology.

X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF)
A recent addition to the Department of Earth and Planetary Science analytical instrumentation is a new Philips PW2400 wavelength dispersive x-ray fluorescence spectrometer with light element capability. This instrument has a high resolution WDS spectrometer and tandem detector system that allows a 10 fold improvement in detection limits over the older energy dispersive Spectrace XRF. The five crystals installed in the unit allow the analysis of elements O-U. The instrument also includes a fully automated 30-position sample changer for extended analysis acquisition time.

The new XRF operates under a standard Windows 95 interface on a Pentium PC which provides for flexibility, ease-of-use and compatibility.

The Spectrace energy dispersive XRF is still operating and is used for the non-destructive analysis of large samples (50-150mm) such as stone and bronze artifacts. The Spectrace unit is equipped with both a Rh x-ray tube and an Americium 241 source which allows the measurement of K-lines as high as Samarium.

Stable Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometer
In the Laboratory for Environmental and Sedimentary Geochemistry, we are documenting past changes environmental and climatic conditions, including changes in salinity, stream flow, temperature, ocean circulation, and coastal upwelling at various locations, using environmentally sensitive isotopes (oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, strontium, and sulfur) and elements (such as Sr/Ca and Mg/Ca), contained in fossils, sediments, and other natural climate archives. We apply similar methods to studying modern environments, using Sr and light stable isotopes (O, C, N, H and S) as tracers. These analyses are made with our new GV IsoPrime gas source mass spectrometer, MultiPrep, and elemental analyzer, housed in McCone 155. The laboratory also houses a computer-controlled micromill for very high-resolution sampling across incrementally banded or deposits growth layers (such as coral, mollusks, fish otolith growth bands, or growth bands in speleothem deposits), as well as sediment sampling and sample preparation laboratories, and a cold room, petrographic and binocular microscopes, and a computer lab. The laboratories are located on the first floor of McCone Hall (rooms 115, 119, and 155).