This project will renovate and upgrade the fluid inclusion laboratory at Washington State University, which serves as a regional research facility with the University of Idaho. This facility is heavily used by students and researchers at the two cooperating universities, including more than 45 M.S. and Ph.D. theses in the past 20 years. Fluid inclusions provide direct evidence of the hydrothermal characteristics of many past and present geological systems. Fluid inclusions have been instrumental in the study of many geologic processes and are a standard part of most studies of ore deposits. Use of the fluid inclusion laboratory at Washington State University ranges from studies of pollen spores, to geothermal systems, to structural geology, to economic geology, although the majority of studies have been of ore deposits. Meinert et al. (1997) is an example of a recently published fluid inclusion study that demonstrates the capabilities and use of the lab. The new equipment includes a Linkham heating/freezing stage and supporting IR microscope/video equipment. This equipment allows the routine measurement of heating and freezing temperatures of fluid inclusions in both transparent and semi-opaque materials. ***
