Within Curtin’s John de Laeter Centre, the GeoHistory Facility (GHF) specialises in laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICPMS). This technique is commonly applied to research into the trace element composition of solid materials including rock forming minerals, fused rock powder, glasses, inclusions, archaeological artefacts, ceramics, plastics and biological materials like otoliths, teeth, bones, shells.
We also apply LA-ICPMS to in situ dating of a variety of minerals (geochronology), isotopic analysis, 2D elemental mapping, and the determination of mineral-melt partition coefficients.