Facilities & Equipment
The Department of Geology/Geography has a host of facilities available to faculty and students for teaching and research within the department as well as facilities available elsewhere on campus.
Geographical Information Analysis (GIA) / Cartography Laboratory - room 2020 Physical Science Building
The GIA laboratory, under the supervision of Dr. Vince Gutowski, contains 17 Pentium computers equipped with the latest version of AutoCAD, Surpher, and ArcView. The room also has several large drafting tables and light tables. Technical drafting equipment is also available for student use. The Cartography Laboratory also houses an Illinois Department of Natural Resources computer workstation and color printer for continuing use on the Embarras River Watershed Project. Associated with the laboratory is a large format (Hewlett-Packard 2500C) E-size plotter, and large (24" x 36") digitizing table. Laser printers (B&W and color), scanners, and digitizers are connected to the computers and are used for teaching and research projects. Courses that utilize this equipment include Introduction to Cartography (GEG 3800), Advanced Cartography (GEG 3850), Computer Mapping (GEG 3855), and Geographic Information Systems (GEG 4890).
Computer Laboratory - room 3030 Physical Science Building
The general purpose computer laboratory contains 5 G4 Power Macintosh computers and 10 Gateway (Windows XP) computers with a variety of standard software packages for general use. Also available is a liquid crystal display (LCD) projector. The computers are primarily used for by students for research, but the lab is also used for classes focusing on the Internet in the Earth Sciences (Seminar, GEL 3470).
Microscopy Laboratory - room 1121 Physical Science Building
The Microscopy Laboratory, under the supervision of Dr. Craig Chesner, supports laboratory portions of Petrology (GEL 3405), Economic Mineral Deposits (GEL 3460), Principles of Sedimentation (GEL 3510), Optical Mineralogy (GEL 4480), and Invertebrate Paleotonology (GEL 4490). The room contains 10 modern student petrographic microscopes, a reflected light microscope, complete thin-section equipment, binocular microscopes, and a video microscope for digital capture of images. An X-ray diffractometer used by the Geology/Geography and Physics departments for teaching and research is also housed in room 1121. Elsewhere in the department individual faculty have research microscopes.
Heavy Liquids/Mineral Separation Laboratory - room 4112 Physical Science Building
The Heavy Liquids/Mineral Separation Laboratory, under the supervision of Drs. Ray Pheifer and Craig Chesner, has all the equipment and chemicals required to do complete heavy mineral separates for research. Equipment includes all the necessary glassware as well as a rock splitter, crusher, and pulverizer. The room has an excellent fume hood and has liquids with a wide range of specific gravities; neothene (SG = 1.30) to methylene iodide (SG = 3.32). A Frantz Isodynamic Separator will be acquired shortly and will be used in teaching, research, and sample preparation.
Grain Size Analysis Laboratory - room 1040 Physical Science Building
The Grain Size Analysis Laboratory, under the supervision of Drs. Vince Gutowski, Kathy Bower, and Bob Jorstad, houses automated sieve shakers, wet and dry sieves, electronic balances, agitators, drying ovens, fume hoods, centrifuge, soil augering equipment, and hydrometers. The laboratory is used in both research and teaching and can run samples according to US Army Corps of Engineers, USDA, or engineering specifications.
Field Camp Equipment
Field Camp, under the direction of Dr. Craig Chesner, makes use of standard field equipment that is checked out to students and faculty for research and teaching purposes. Equipment includes, tents, Brunton compasses, plane table and alidades, stereoscopes for aerial photography interpretation, a Sokkia SET 4BII total station, and a pair of Trimble decimeter-precision GPS receivers.
Intersession Field Trip Equipment - room 2101 Physical Science Building
Available for intersession field trips/courses as well as intrasemester field trips are tents, cooking equipment, and miscellaneous camping equipment. Between this equipment and regular Field Camp equipment, the department can logistically supply up to 25 people for extended trips (3 - 4 weeks at a stretch) into the field. Students or faculty interested in using the camping equipment should contact Dr. Vince Gutowski for scheduling information.
Oil Well Logs
The Department of Geology/Geography has a collection of nearly 60,000 well logs from oil wells in Illinois. The logs are used by students and faculty in classes, e.g., Well Log Interpretation, GEL 4450, and in independent study and research.
Livingston Fossil Collection - room 2040 Physical Science Building
Curated by Dr. Jim Stratton, the Livingston Fossil Collection contains in excess of 10,000 specimens collected by students and faculty from Illinois and through out the Midwest. The collection is used by our undergraduate students for study and research (e.g., Independent Study, GEL 4400 and Independent Research, GEL 4430) as well as by graduate students from other schools working on theses and dissertations. An Air Abrasion is also available for teaching, research, and sample preparation.
EIU WeatherCenter - room 3112 Physical Science Building
The EIU WeatherCenter, under the supervision of Dr. Belayet Kahn and Mr. Cameron Craig, is a facility that promotes the understanding of atmospheric processes through active research, investigation, and observation. EIU WeatherCenter maintains a primary station (EIU1) that is installed on the roof of the Physical Science building on the EIU Campus that archives and publishes 1 minute and 3 second data to the EIU WeatherCenter website. In addition to the primary station, the facility also maintains a portable TAMS station for use out in the field. EIU WeatherCenter is also fitted with a mini broadcast studio to provide broadcast meteorology students with an opportunity to learn the science and practice communicating it via webcasts. Classes that utilize the equipment include Weather and Climate (ESC 1400), Climatology (ESC 3410), and Special Topics (ESC 3960). The department also maintains an Atmospheric Particulate Collection Station off-campus. This collection station is capable of high volume measurement of atmospheric particulates (TSP), a high volume Particulate Matter Sampler (PM10), rain gauge, wind meter and plotter, and thermographs.
Map Collection - room 2030 Physical Sciences Building
The Department of Geology/Geography maintains a collection of geographic and geologic maps independent of Booth Library that are used in teaching and research. Included is complete topographic coverage of Illinois and Indiana at a scale of 1:24,000. Digital cartographic, aerial photographic, and satellite imagery are also available in the department in conjunction with other laboratories and courses. The department's access to the Internet also allows it access to worldwide databases.
Hydrology Equipment - room 1040 Physical Science Building
Under the supervision of Drs. Vince Gutowski and Kathy Bower, the department has equipment suitable to do a variety of hydrologic testing. Included are total dissolved solids (TDS) meters, dissolved oxygen (DO) meters, pH meters, conductivity meters, sediment samplers, and numerous water quality testing kits. The room also houses a precision balance for minute samples (0.0001 g).
Hydrogeology and Geophysics Equipment
For teaching and research, the department, under the supervision of Drs. Jim Stratton and Ray Pheifer, maintain a portable groundwater flow model, a fluxgate magnetometer, and analog two-component seismometer.
Environmental Geology Equipment - room 1040 Physical Science Building
Under the supervision of Dr. Kathy Bower, total dissolved solids (TDS) meters, dissolved oxygen (DO) meters, pH meters, conductivity meters, sediment samplers, and numerous water quality testing kits are available to students and faculty teaching courses and doing research.
Structural Geology and Paleomagnetic Laboratory - room 1050 Physical Sciences Building
Under the supervision of Dr. John Stimac, the structure lab houses a 10-ton rock press used for deformation studies, as well as a sand box used in analog modeling of transtensive and transpressive stress regimes. A Sapphire Instruments SI-2B Anisotropy of Magnetic Susceptibility (AMS) meter is used to do preliminary paleomagnetic work on samples. The lab also has a Windows-based computer with ArcView, Surfer, AutoCad, MicroDEM, ENVI/IDL (4.0), and Adobe software packages.
