Research Services

WGNHS provides access to our Mount Horeb Research Collections and Educational Center (MHREC) and conducts pXRF analysis of drill core, hand samples, and well cuttings for a service fee. Please see below for details. We look forward to the opportunity to collaborate with you.

Note: Both MHREC and the pXRF lab have limited capacity, and priority goes to WGNHS projects.

Inside a warehouse building. Tall steel shelves filled with flat boxes of core samples line the left and right sides, and the shelves extend up out of frame. Directly in front of the viewer, past the shelves, is a forklift sitting in a doorway that leads to another enormous room with more tall shelves. — A small portion of the geologic core at MHREC. (Photo by Shazwan Abdul Hamid)

Mount Horeb Research Collections and Educational Center (MHREC)

Our Mount Horeb facility houses our extensive core repository.

The facility fee for visiting MHREC is charged in 4-hour increments. Note that visits must be scheduled ahead of time, and drop-in visits are NOT possible. Please allow a minimum of 1 to 2 weeks for scheduling. Drop-in visits are NOT possible. Please email the WGNHS Samples Coordinator, Carsyn Ames, to coordinate your visit: carsyn.ames@wisc.edu. Fees for visiting MHREC are listed below.

	Facility use fee¹
Type of visitor	Full day (>4 hours)	Half day (<4 hours)	Explanation of charges
WGNHS staff and collaborators²; UW-Madison Geoscience staff	No charge	No charge
UW System; WGNHS research associate	$91	$46	25% of facility use fee
Non-UW System colleges (public, private)	$183	$92	50% of facility use fee
Students working on thesis or dissertation³	No charge for first 2 days (per calendar year)		For additional days, appropriate rates apply
State agencies	$183	$92	50% of facility use fee
Industry	$505	$253
¹Rates are calculated as a percentage of facility use fee: $350 per day, $241 per half day plus 38% to cover indirect rate.
²Collaborators are those working on active WGNHS projects
³Students shall be accompanied by their advisor. In cases where this is not possible, students must make special arrangements with the Samples Coordinator prior to their visit.

Equipment/service	Cost
Core boxes, staging*	$4/box
*We request that researchers budget time to assist with staging and reshelving core on lower shelves.

pXRF lab

The WGNHS pXRF lab is located at our main office on Mineral Point Road in Madison.

The pXRF lab charges a per-sample rate. The base rate, which includes running the sample and packaging the data, applies to ALL analyses, regardless of the type of sample. Samples that require additional preparation (e.g. water well cuttings) are charged an additional sample-prep rate to account for expendables. Repeat analyses (duplicates, triplicates, etc.) will incur the base-rate charge per analysis, but will not be charged the sample-prep rate, regardless of sample type. Please email pxrf@wgnhs.wisc.edu for more information.

Note: The pXRF lab only charges for running samples; any charges that may apply for pulling samples from MHREC are charged separately.

	Internal Rate*	External Rate
Base Rate	$4.08/sample	$6.34/sample
Sample Prep Rate	$2.16/sample	$3.36/sample
*The internal rate applies to all UW System campuses; everyone else is charged the external rate.