QRC Facilities

Laboratories

Plant life returns after a lava flow in Hawai'i

Cosmogenic Nuclide Laboratory

Measuring cosmic-ray-produced ²⁶Al, ¹⁰Be and ³⁶Cl in rocks, soils, sediment and ice to date events that have modified the Earth’s surface and studying the responsible geomorphic processes. Dating Quaternary glaciation, studying erosion and sediment transport, and quantifying cosmogenic nuclide production.

Stable Isotope Laboratory

Eric J. Steig, Director

Developing high-resolution climate records covering the last ten millennia, from ice cores in the Canadian Arctic, Greenland, and Antarctica. Off-line and on-line preparation systems for D/H and ¹⁸O¹⁶O on water, ¹³C¹²C and on carbonates and organic materials, and ¹⁵N¹⁴N on nitrate and organics. Additional information, data, and other resources are available at the isolab web page.

Emeritus Minze Stuiver's ¹⁴C and ¹⁸O data produced by the Quaternary Isotope Laboratory (QIL) are still available on our Public Datasets page. Also available is the QIL radiocarbon calibration program: CALIB.

The Periglacial Laboratory

Bernard Hallet and Jaakko Putkonen, Directors

Studying processes that shape landscapes in alpine and polar regions. Cold rooms for precisely controlled experiments on soils and rocks as they freeze and thaw. Preparation rooms for staging field work and preparing instrumentation to study glacial and periglacial processes in diverse regions including Alaska, Antarctica, Greenland, and Patagonia.

Soil Geochemistry Lab

Ron Sletten, Director

Studying soil and water chemistry, including the role of natural organic matter in metal transport in soil and water. Examining surface processes and carbon dynamics in polar regions.

The Quaternary Ecology and Paleoecology Laboratories

Pat Anderson, Director

Detailed stratigraphic studies of plant and animal remains in Quaternary sediments. Extensive collection of modern reference pollen types from Asia and the Americas. Studies of fossil cladoceran remains, diatoms, seeds, and trace-metal geochemistry in lake sediments.

Remote Sensing and Planetary Sciences Laboratory

Alan Gillespie, Director

Theory and mapping of multispectral remote-sensing data as applied to the surface of Earth and other planetary bodies. Monitoring of anthropogenic change and natural hazards.

GIS Lab

David Montgomery, Director

Using Geographical Information Systems (GIS) to explore and quantify geomorphology, and to support field campaigns. Spatial Data Engine, Internet Map Server, mammoth file server and web servers, and powerful student workstations.

Contact Information

Quaternary Research Center
University of Washington
Johnson Hall, Room 377A
Box 351360
Seattle, WA 98195-1360
206.543.1166

QRC Special Collections Resource Center