Super Clean Lab

The Super Clean Lab, in charge of the Crust-Mantle Interaction and Geodynamics Research Group, is the one of the most important parts of the State Key Laboratory of Geological Processes and Mineral Resources, China University of Geosciences (Wuhan). It is fully open to scientific researchers and students from foreign and domestic scientific research institutes and universities.

The Super Clean Lab was established in September 2005, and is controlled by an intelligent automatic control system, which allows remote monitoring for temperature, pressure and system errors. Currently, it is comprised of a ventilator room, a sample digestion room, a Re-Os workroom, two isotope workrooms, a trace element workroom, and reagent purification room. Each workroom is equipped with super clean benches made of acid-proof, corrosion-resistant polypropylene material, and the purification level is 100-Class. The Lab can accommodate 10-12 technicians or students to work at the same time.

In the past five years, about 384 batches of ICP-MS trace element sample preparation and 193 batches of Sr-Nd-Pb isotope sample preparation have been made in the Super Clean Lab, with a total sample number of about 38000. About 120 students have been trained in the Super Clean Lab, and they are mainly from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the University of Science and Technology of China, Nanjing University, Jilin University, Tongji University, Northwest University, China University of Petroleum and other research institutions. In addition to the routine analyses of trace elements and Sr-Nd-Pb isotopes, purification methods for Mo, Hf, Li, Ca, Cu, and highly siderophile and chalcophile elements have neem set up for their isotopic analyses.

In order to prevent sample contamination, the strict and standardized experimental procedures must be followed in the Super Clean Lab, including reagent purification, vessel cleaning, digestion and purification. To obtain accurate and reliable experimental data, we use multi-level monitoring, such as total analytical blanks, international reference materials and replicate samples.