FACILITIES:
 
The department possesses the collections and equipment necessary for instruction and research in geology, oceanography, geography, astronomy, meteorology, and scientific photography. Rossey Hall, the home of the department, houses complete laboratory facilities for mineral and rock analysis. These include a thin-section laboratory, petrographic microscopes for the analysis of thin-sections, an X-ray diffraction unit for mineral and rock studies, and an emission spectrometer for chemical analyses of minerals and rocks. In addition, the facilities provide for the preparation and interpretation of microfossils, mechanical separation and analysis of sediments, and mapping projects involving use of the Brunton compass, plane table and alidade, and transit.
 
 

The facilities include equipment for collecting and analyzing fresh and ocean water samples, collecting and analyzing ocean sediments, and determining wave, current, and sediment dispersal patterns in the ocean. The department houses an extensive collection of maps, atlases, globes and photographs for the use in geographical studies. Drafting equipment and computer software is available for the preparation of professional quality maps.
 
 

Telescopes with photographic attachments are available to astronomy students. A complete weather station is set up for use in meteorological studies. A well-equipped photographic dark room, a complete lapidary laboratory for cutting and polishing gems and minerals, and a laboratory for microphotography are also provided for student use.

The department has a state of the art GIS laboratory featuring high speed Pentium computers, high resolution scanner, draft quality plotters and color laser printer, as well as powerful GIS and map creation software The laboratory makes use of computer driven plotter devices to construct maps and charts necessary for in-depth detailed studies of Geology and Cartography. . The Meteorology program is capable of obtaining data for real-time weather forecasting. All department members are linked campus wide via Ethernet, which also has access to the World Wide Web.

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