Environmental analysis

The School is equipped with a wide range of analytical facilities dedicated to the analysis of water and soil samples. These facilities allow students to conduct research on a variety of environmental topics, such as water quality, soil contamination, and climate change.

Environmental Geochemistry Lab

The Environmental Geochemistry Lab analyses a variety of environmental samples including water, sediment, plant and animal tissues. Potential users are encouraged to contact the lab to discuss their analytical needs, see contacts below. Please complete this Query form when making enquiries. 

• ICP-MS 
  The ICP-MS facility is able to analyse a wide range of major and trace elements in liquids and other materials that can be dissolved in acidic solution. Samples requiring acid dissolution are prepared by microwave digestion (Anton Paar Multiwave Go). A wide variety of samples are routinely processed (e.g., soils, plant material, biological tissues, etc). Quantitative measurements are performed using multi-element standard solutions and international certified reference materials.

• HPLC

The lab houses an Agilent HPLC 1100 (PDA) instrument and is set up to analyse a variety of organic compounds in organic samples.  

Enquiries: Dr Letitia Pillay | Letitia.pillay@wits.ac.za

• X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) 
  The lab houses a Bruker S2 Ranger and is set up to analyse major elements in prepared solid materials (e.g., soils, sediments, cement and ceramics). Routine analysis of major elements includes Si, Al, Fe, Ca, Mg, K, Na, Mn, Ti, S and P. International rock standards are used for calibration.
• Uwitec piston coring system
  Designed by Uwitec of Austria, our floating sediment piston coring system can collect cores up to 20 meters long from lakes, wetlands and estuaries. These calm depositional environments preserve sedimentary records through geological time that can provide valuable information about past changes in environment and climate. The piston system allows the retrieval of contiguous 2 m sections at water depths up to 100 m.

Enquiries:  Prof. Marc Humphries | Marc.Humphries@wits.ac.za

Environmental Analytical Lab

Equipment and analytical services offered by the Environmental Analytical Lab:

• Ion chromatography (Metrohm Eco IC)
  Quantification of anions (Cl, F, NO₂, NO₃, PO₄, SO₄, Br) in aqueous samples
• ?Elemental analysis (Vario Elementar)
  Quantification of C, H, N & S in a variety of samples
• ICP-OES (Spectro Genesis) and ICP-MS (Perkin Elmer NexIon 2000)
  Routine elemental analysis of water, soil, and sediment samples

Enquiries: Mokgaetji Monyai | mokgaetji.monyai@wits.ac.za