About ICL

Picture of the NRC Building

The Isotope Core Laboratory (ICL) is located in TAMU-CC's Natural Resources Center (NRC) room 3230. The purpose of the facility is to support basic and applied research in the biological, geological and environmental sciences in South Texas and promote collaborations among faculty at TAMUCC, other research institutions and industry.

The laboratory houses a Thermo Scientific (Thermo) Delta V Plus Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometer (IRMS) and a Thermo ConFlo IV interface for continuous flow mass spectrometry. The IRMS operates in-line with a Costech Elemental Analyzer (EA) with a zero blank autosampler, a Thermo GasBench II and a Thermo TRACE 1310 Gas Chromatograph (GC) with an IsoLink interface and TriPlus autosampler.

The GasBench and GC system determines the isotopic compositions of: 1) carbon in dissolved organic carbon (DIC), CO2, methane (CH4) and carbonates, 2) oxygen in H2O and carbonates and 3) hydrogen in H2O.

The EA/IRMS measures the concentration and isotopic composition of carbon and nitrogen in sediments and organic matter. The ICL also includes a field-deployable Piccaro G2201-i Analyzer for the simultaneous measurement of carbon isotopes in CO2 and CH4.