The IGG Secondary Branch in Pavia is hosted by the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences (DSTA) of the University of Pavia.

A key feature of this facility is the simultaneous availability of advanced instrumentation and expertise in single-crystal X-ray diffraction at room temperature and high temperatures (up to 1000°C). The establishment, in the late 1980s, of a Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS) laboratory has enabled the in situ chemical characterization of solid samples at small scales (microns to tens of microns). The first and still only SIMS laboratory operating in Earth Sciences in Italy has enabled the quantitative analysis of trace and ultratrace elements (from H to U) directly on thin rock sections or single crystals. Combining petrographic evidence with geological, mineralogical, geochemical, and crystallographic information, interdisciplinary research has been developed, leading to petrogenetic modeling of the investigated rock system and opening new lines of research in experimental petrology and materials science.

In the second half of the 1990s, the National Antarctic Research Program (PNRA) added the Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) laboratory. With this new instrumentation, in addition to the determination of trace and ultratrace constituents in a wide variety of solid matrices, it was possible to undertake rock dating according to the U-Th-Pb systematic.

Over the years, the equipment has been significantly improved.