Facilities A-Z

ARI specialises in airborne data acquisition and innovation. It operates a fleet of manned and unmanned aircraft to support research and teaching across the School and beyond.

This facility supports in-house research, with a suite of experimental equipment for research into the secure and sustainable utilisation of the subsurface for low carbon energy applications.

Our School offers a wide range of geochemical facilities for the the analysis of soils, sediments, plant material, water samples and biochar extracts. We support research and teaching, as well as academic and commercial analytical services for external users.

The Museum holds an extensive collection of geological specimens that reflect the whole spectrum of Earth science materials including minerals, rocks, meteorites and fossils, as well as historical objects such as maps and photographs.

The facility supports in-house research, as well as academic and external services in preparing samples for the measurement of terrestrial cosmogenic nuclides within rock and sediment.

The Edinburgh Materials and Micro-Analysis Centre (EMMAC) provides integrated and interdisciplinary facilities for the application of microbeam techniques to material analysis.

The facility supports in-house research, as well as provides academic and commercial services in electron probe microanalysis and tephra analysis.

Our Experimental Geoscience Facility is a suite of laboratories equipped to support experimental investigations of physical, chemical and coupled Earth processes.

Our X-ray CT instrument was designed and built in-house to enable non-destructive 3D analysis of geological materials and for experimental applications. This facility supports in-house research as well as external and collaborative research.

Our School hosts the NERC Field Spectroscopy Facility, which maintains and provides a pool of state-of-the-art spectroscopy instruments for the UK research community.

​Our School hosts the NERC Geophysical Equipment Facility, which loans equipment suitable for geophysical research free of charge to universities and other institutes engaged in environmental research.

Computing-intensive research in Geographical Information Systems (GIS) is supported by access to our well-equipped in-house GIS suite.

The GREAT Cell is designed to recreate subsurface conditions in the laboratory to a depth of 3.5 km on 200 mm diameter rock samples containing fracture networks.

The facility supports in-house research, as well as academic and external services in Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometry and Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry analysis.

The facility supports in-house research, as well as academic and commercial services in Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS) analysis for the chemical analysis of small volumes of material.

The Mechanical Workshop supports in-house research and teaching as well as external services. We provide design, build and manufacture services on different materials for a wide range of purposes.

The Optical Microscope Laboratory contains a suite of modern microscopes for a wide range of purposes. It is used by our undergraduate and postgraduate students as well as research and academic staff.

The facility supports in-house research and teaching, as well as academic and commercial services in wide-ranging analysis of natural and contaminant organic chemicals.

Our physical geography laboratories support undergraduate teaching such as classes, fieldwork and dissertation projects, as well as research undertaken by postgraduate students, research and academic staff.

The facility supports teaching and research, as well as processing fossil insects and other palaeoecological material.

The facility supports in-house research, as well as provides academic and commercial services in Scanning Electron Microscope analysis for the Earth and environmental science community.

The facility supports in-house research, as well as academic and commercial services in palaeoenvironmental research.

The facility supports in-house research and teaching, as well as academic and commercial services in sample impregnation, cutting, grinding, separation and polishing for the preparation of geological samples.

Our School hosts the UK Biochar Research Centre, which leads strategic, multidisciplinary investigations of biochar and provides a range of research and advice to relevant government bodies and companies.

The facility supports in-house research, as well as academic and commercial services in X-ray diffraction analysis for qualitative or quantitative mineralogical analysis of crystalline material.

The facility supports in-house research and teaching, as well as academic and commercial services in qualitative or quantitative elemental analysis of geological materials.