The Laboratory of Stable Isotopes and Noble Gases was launched in 1991 and nowadays is one of the General Services of scientific research support of the University of Salamanca, integrated in the so-called NUCLEUS platform.
This General Service makes determinations of the isotopic ratios of light elements Hydrogen (D/H), Carbon (¹³C/ ¹²C), Nitrogen (¹⁵N/¹⁴N), Oxygen (¹⁸O/¹⁶O) and Sulphur (³⁴S/³²S), as well as noble gases Helium (³He/⁴He), Neon (²⁰Ne/²²Ne, ²¹Ne/²²Ne), Argon (⁴⁰Ar/³⁶Ar, ³⁸Ar/³⁶Ar), Kripton (⁸⁴Kr/³⁶Ar) and Xenon (¹²⁹Xe/¹³⁰Xe, ¹³⁰Xe/³⁶Ar, ¹³⁶Xe/¹³²Xe, ¹²⁹Xe/¹³²Xe) in all types of materials: solid (rocks and minerals, organic substances, ...), liquids (water and its solutes, hydrocarbons,…) and gaseous. Its use is also open to other public Institutions and private companies.
In summary, the Lab’s equipment houses:
- 7 mass spectrometers (4 dual inlet; 3 continuous flow), together with diverse preparation systems, off-line and on-line including equilibrium devices, Elemental Analyzers, Gas Chromatography, laser extraction systems and several high vacuum extraction lines, able to handle a range of materials for analysis.
Regarding Earth Sciences in general and Volcanology in particular, the main prep systems utilized include both a conventional and a laser fluorination line (δ¹⁸O determination in silicates); a D/H line for hydrogen extraction out of hydrated minerals; a step-heating device for the fractional extraction and purification of fluids (liquid, gas) from fluid inclusions; facilities for both physical and chemical extraction of sulphur forms, and a vacuum extraction line to generate the gas required for δ³⁴S determination. Additionally, an elemental analyzer equipped with pyrolysis capabilities is coupled to one of the CF mass spectrometers. The CO₂ laser can be used for in-situ analysis of δ¹⁸O, and the Nd:YAG laser for spot determination of isotopic ratios in sulphides.
- 1 CRDS for the determination of D/H and oxygen in liquids, and C in CO₄ and CH₄.
- 1 Thermo-HELIX-SFT (single flight tube) ultra high vacuum mass spectrometer for the determination of isotopic ratios of noble gases (He, Ne, Ar, Xe, Kr). A solid sample preparation device is connected on-line to the mass spectrometer (laser and crushers), and an off-line extraction line for noble gas extraction out of fluid (liquid and gas) samples is available as well.
more details of the available equipment at:
https://nucleus.usal.es/en/isotopes/equipment
