The Planetarium
The IUP Planetarium, which houses a 1966 Spitz A3P projector, is used extensively in undergraduate courses for Earth and Space Science Education majors and more majors and offers public shows throughout the year.
The Laboratories
The Structural Geology and Tectonics Laboratory equipment includes high-end computers for inverse modeling of earthquake and fault kinematic data and a research-grade Nikon petrographic microscope for microstructural analysis.
The Geochemistry Research Laboratory provides elemental analyses using ICP-OES (ion coupled plasma optical emission spectrometer) and standard soil and water chemistry.
Students get hands-on lab experience preparing samples of ocean floor sediment collected from a core sample in the Marine Sediments Laboratory. Fossil clues can date layers and reveal ocean conditions in the sediment.
The Planetary Science Laboratory includes a 20-centimeter, research-grade, computerized Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope; video and still cameras for night sky and solar imaging with telescopes; video time inserters; and computer facilities.
The Hydrogeology Lab includes field-based equipment used for stream flow studies, automated water sampling apparatus, stream-table modeling, and water quality. It also houses a luminescent microscope apparatus for detailed study of carbonate and organic components of sedimentary rocks.
The Paleontology Lab holds a valuable collection of Paleozoic specimens for stratigraphic studies and environmental studies. It contains digital imaging/photographic equipment to document samples, research-grade binocular microscopes, and a variety of rock crushing and sample separation equipment. In addition to these facilities, the Geoscience Department collaborates with researchers from a number of other departments across campus and jointly supports analytical laboratories capable of x-ray diffraction analysis, geomagnetic studies, and geophysical imaging.
The Marine Sediments Laboratories house equipment that provides electronic particle characterization, x-ray diffraction analysis, sediment coring, and magnetic analysis. We also provide standard equipment for routine wet chemical and sieve analysis (shakers, ultrasonic baths, large-volume centrifuges, and freeze-drying).