Physical geography laboratories
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.
These facilities are multifunctional, meaning they each have many different uses.
Located within the Institute of Geography building, our facilities include:
- Palaeoecology Laboratory
- Sediment Laboratory
- Microscope Room
- Tephra Store
- Cold Room
- Mineral Separation/Crushing/Sieving Room
You can find more details on the facilities and equipment available under each of the drop-down menus below.
The Palaeoecology Laboratory and Sediment Laboratory are open to all students as well as research and academic staff.
A range of activities are supported through these laboratories including:
- general bench top needs
- water quality
- loss on ignition
- soil properties and particle size
- tephra, pollen and diatom preparation
- various microscope slide preparations
Both laboratories contain HF-rated fume cupboards with washdown facilities.
Temperature controlled filtered external air supplies have recently been fitted, which help to maintain a clean and safe working environment.
As well as the usual range of glassware and other consumables, the laboratories also contain:
| Various hotplates | Digital pipetters | Water baths |
| Heating blocks | Ultrasonic baths | Magnetic stirrers |
| Desiccators | pH meters | Conductivity meters |
| Range of sieves | Sieve shaker | Tephra microprobe slide preparation |
| Heraeus drying oven | Muffle furnace | Camlab spectrophotometer |
| Coulter LS230 Particle Size Analyser | Bartington Magnetic Susceptibility Meter | 3 and 4 digit Mettler Toledo balances |
| Eppendorf Centrifuge | Sigma Centrifuge | Core splitter |
The microscope room is open to all students as well as research and academic staff.
There are various microscopes suitable for diatom, pollen, tephra, geological thin section and plant macrofossil identification.
The equipment includes:
- x1 Olympus BX50 with phase contrast
- x3 Olympus BX40 research microscopes (1 with reflected light source, including petrological stage and polariser)
- x1 Leica S6E stereomicroscope (other Leica S6E stereomicroscopes, one with a digital camera, are shared with the Beetle Lab).
- x4 Olympus C011 teaching microscopes
- x1 Vickers petrological microscope
- x1 Canon EOS 1000D Digital camera (can be connected to any BX40/50 microscope)
There is also an Optical Microscope Laboratory at the Kings Buildings campus, which is around two miles (3km) north of Edinburgh city centre.
We have a large cold room kept at a constant 4°C.
The new large cold room is accessed from the Sediment Laboratory and provides shelf and floor space for material which needs to be kept at a constant 4°C.
Although free space is limited, the cold room is available to all users within the School and allows cores over 2 metres to be stored.
Material stored here is also available for student dissertation projects.
Contact and location
Location
The physical geography laboratories are located in the Institute of Geography building, University of Edinburgh. It is in central Edinburgh, within the historic Old Town and close to Old College.
Address: Institute of Geography, School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, 1 Drummond St, Edinburgh EH8 9XP
Campus maps and travel information
Additional facilities are located at our Kings Buildings campus, which is around two miles (3km) north of Edinburgh city centre.
Research and teaching facilities
Contact
For more information, please contact:
Dr Anthony Newton Lecturer in Geography
- Telephone: +44 (0) 131 650 2546
- Email: Anthony.Newton@ed.ac.uk
- View Dr Newton's full research profile
- Address: Institute of Geography, Drummond Street, EH8 9XP