Campus Facilities

Albion College Science ComplexScience Complex

The Geology Department is housed in the first and ground floors of Palenske and Putnam Halls of the Albion College Science Complex, renovated/built in 2006. The complex includes four buildings connected on four levels with a four-story atrium at its center. Key features of the department include:

  1. State-of-the-art teaching/research laboratories
  2. Extensive mineral/fossil/rock and map collections
  3. Laboratory instrumentation, including ICP-AES, XRF, and XRD spectrometers
  4. Abundant field sampling and surveying equipment
  5. Geology Shop for sample preparation

Petrology LabSeven Teaching Laboratories

  • 2 Introductory Geology Labs
  • J Harlen Bretz Surficial Geology Lab, with three 3'x7' stream tables, a 12' hydrologic flume, 10 Leica stereomicroscopes, soils analysis equipment, and  nine TOPCON MS-3 mirror stereoscopes
  • R.G. Clark GIS Remote Sensing Laboratory with 13 Dell PCs, ArcGIS and ENVI soware
  • ftEnvironmental Geology and Geochemistry Lab
  • General Advanced Lab
  • MIneralogy/Petrology lab with new Leica student petrographic microscopes and a research grade Olympus petrographic scope with imaging capabilities

Albion College geology facilitiesResearch Laboratories

  • L.D. Taylor Undergraduate Research Laboratory
  • Dow Analytical Laboratory
  • Six dedicated faculty research laboratories

Analytical Instruments

  • Inductively coupled plasma/atomic emission spectrometer model JY-38-S
  • X-ray fluorescence spectrometer
  • Rigaku RIX 2100X-ray diffractometer
  • SediGraph 5100 particle analyzer

Field Sampling and Surveying Equipment

  • YSI flowtracker current meter:
  • Isco 6712 Automated Sampler
  • Two Pygmy AA USGS Current Meters with Wadding Rods and Aqua Calc
  • YSI  6600 Multi-Parameter Water Quality Monitor
  • 2 YSI 600 Optical Multi-Parameter Sonde
  • Two Quanta Water Quality Meters
  • 8 Solinst Leveloggers
  • Leica Total Station
  • 2 Advantage Laser Atlanta Laser Range Finders
  • GPS units
  • Over 50 Brunton Compasses

Albion College Geology Department ShopGeology Shop

  • Logitec CL30 Precision Lapping Machine                    
  • Tile Master rock saw
  • Logitec CW30 Trim Saw
  • Comco Micro Blaster
  • Two Lab Ovens  
  • Carver Pellet Hydraulic Press  
  • Spex 4200 Jaw Crusher
  • Two Spex Mixer/Mills
  • Isomet Low Speed Saw
  • Frantz Magnetic Separator

Rock/Mineral/Fossil & Map Collections

Albion College Geology Department rock storage

Albion College Geology Department rock cab