In the year 2008 the installation of the lab was made possible by generous financial support from OMV within the frame of the PEPE project, the European Union (EFRE) and the government of Styria.

Investigations of stable isotope ratios (C, N, S, O, H(D)) provide information on the origin of organic matter in sediments and the depositional environment (salinity, hydrology, bio-productivity). Moreover, they are an important tool to classify oil families and for the oil-oil as wells we oil-source rocks correlations. Especially reliable results are provided by compound-specific isotopy, where isotope ratios of specific molecules are determined.

The Leoben isotope lab consists of the following instruments delivered by Spectronex GmbH/ThermoFisher Scientific:

• DELTA V Advantage (Isotope mass spectrometer for the determination of isotope ratios on carbon 13C (CO2), nitrogen15N (N2), oxygen 18O (CO, O2), sulphur 34S (SO2) and hydrogen 2H (D)
• Gas Bench Needle Flush/Measure
• ConFlo IV (Interface for element analyzer and gas chromatograph)
• Element analyzer FLASH EFCt (for automatic measurement of N and C)
• Gas Bench II (sample interface system for the determination of isotope ratios of CO2 in air or released from carbonate minerals, the 13C determination of solved inorganic carbon, or 18O in water samples)
• Temperature controlled sample tray and carbonate option (automatic carbonate tool with acid pump and phosphoric acid for Gas Bench II)
• GC IsoLink for C, N and H analysis (includes the gas chromatograph TRACE GC ULTRA and a H/D-reactor)
• Option for 18O analysis of GC-eluates
• TriPlus auto-sampler for TRACE GC ULTRA
• H/D system for the simultaneous determination of ions with the masses 2 and 3

The instrument is used mainly for petroleum geological projects (source rock analysis, oil analysis, oil-source rock correlations, migration studies), but also to solve economic geological problems. Moreover, it can be applied for bio-geochemical and environment-geochemical studies.