Pavia Territorial Unit

The IGG Territorial Unit of Pavia is hosted by the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences (DSTA) of the University of Pavia.

This Unit is characterized by the availability of instrumentation and advanced skills in single crystal X-ray diffractometry at room temperature and high temperature (up to 1000 °C), and the activation, at the end of the 1980s, of a Secondary-Ion Mass-Spectrometry (SIMS) laboratory, which has made possible the in-situ chemical characterization of solid samples on small scales (microns-tens of microns). The first and still unique SIMS laboratory operating in the Earth Sciences in Italy has allowed the quantitative analysis of elements (from H to U) in trace and ultra-trace concentrations, directly on rock thin sections or in single crystals.

By combining petrographic evidence with geological, mineralogical, geochemical and crystallographic information, an interdisciplinary research has been developed, which has made possible the petrogenetic modeling of the rock system investigated and the activation of new lines of research in experimental petrology and material science.

In the second half of the 1990s, as part of the Antarctic National Research Programme (PNRA), the Laser Ablation-Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) laboratory was activated. With this new facility, in addition to the determination of trace and ultra-trace constituents in a wide variety of solid matrices, it was possible to perform the dating of rocks according to the U-Th-Pb systematics.

During the years, the instrumentations have been significantly implemented.

Contacts

Dr. Alberto Zanetti (Head of the Unit)

Secretary/Administrations

  • Phone: +39 0382 985753

Mail Address: IGG - Sede Secondaria di Pavia, Via A. Ferrata 1, 27100 - Pavia

Fax: +39 0382 985887