Mineralogy and Geochemistry Laboratory

Sample preparation

• Mineral separation (magnetic, heavy liquids)
• Sieving (various fractions)
• Destruction of organic matter and/or carbonates
• Separation clay (successive sedimentation)

Mineralogical analyses

• Microscopy
• X-ray diffraction - bulk powder sample, no treatments
• Detailed XRD clay analysis (Ca, Ca + Glycol, K, K + 350°C, K + 550°C)
• Qualitative interpretation of XRD powder diffractogram
• Quantitative interpretation of XRD powder diffractogram
• X-ray fluorescence - bulk powder sample, no treatments

Chemical analyses of rocks / soils / water – ICP-OES

• Single element
• Individual additional elements (up to 9 elements + LOI)
• Total element analysis (from 10 up to 24 elements)

Routine soil and sediment analyses

• Texture / granulometry (minimum 50 g material) - pipette method
• Organic carbon (% OC)
• Total nitrogen (%N)
• pH-H₂O (1 : 2.5)
• pH-KCl (1 : 2.5)
• Absorbtion complex (CEC, exch. Ca, Mg, K & Na)
• Exchangeable Al and acidity (if pH < 5.5)
• Charges curves and pHo (Fingerprint method)

Specific soil and sediment analyses

• pH-NaF
• Calcium carbonate
• Gypsum
• Total P
• Available P
• Total Fe
• Fe, Al, C-pyrophosphate extraction
• Fe, Al, Si, Mn-acid oxalate extraction
• Fe, Al, Mn-hydroxyalamine + HCl extraction
• Fe, Al, Mn-hydroxylamine + acedtic acid extraction
• Fe, Al, Si-DCB extraction
• TC, IC & TOC (total organic analyzer)
• Total S (alcaline fusion)
• ODOE (Cf oxalate)
• P retention (Blakemore method)

Saline soils, analyses on saturation extraction

• Preparation of paste and determination of H₂O content
• Electrical conductivity (EC)
• Cations (Ca, Mg, K, Na)
• Anions (Cr^-, SO₄^2-, HCO₃^-, CO₃^2-)
• Extraction (1:5) + anions, cations, EC, pH

Water analyses