Within the Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences (EAPS) at MIT a Center for Geochemical Analysis (CGA) has been established. The center comprises seven faculty members who study the geochemistry of the Earth, including its crust, mantle, oceans, and atmosphere, and supervise six major analytical facilities.

Determining the chemical composition of natural materials of varying age is fundamental to understanding modern global geochemical cycles and the role of humans in influencing them. A long-term record of interactions between the atmosphere, oceans and crust is recorded in rocks and minerals and a variety of analytical geochemical techniques are required to extract the "signals" of these interactions. During the past thirty years there has been a revolution in our understanding of the complexity of geological materials that is in large part related to development of instrumentation capable of accurately determining the abundances and isotopic composition of major and trace components in very small samples. This ability has enabled the proposition and testing of increasingly sophisticated and complex geochemical models that describe the Earth system. The EAPS Department is an international leader in exploiting geochemistry to better understand the Earth and the interactions between its subsystems. State of the art analytical instrumentation is essential to this leadership role.

It is increasingly recognized, however, that an integrated approach is necessary to understand temporal and spatial variations of natural systems. For example, understanding the geochemical cycles that dominate the earth's evolution requires integration of data from the modern earth and the geologic record. A good example is the study of the effects of large mountain ranges on climate, and the composition of seawater. This involves understanding the absolute timing of mountain building and climate change and can only be accomplished through the integration of geologic mapping, precise geochronology, and documentation of the evolution of seawater composition. Insights gained from these studies can then be used to evaluate the causes and effects of ancient episodes of mountain building on climate, the composition of seawater, and the evolution of life; e.g. as proposed for Cambrian period 540 million years ago. Such research often requires the use of multiple analytical techniques. The Center for Geochemical Analysis (CGA) was formed to facilitate such analyses, to stimulate collaborations among specialists in each methodology and to provide an interface that encourages use of the facilities by researchers within and outside MIT.

In addition to research, the CGA has an important educational role. Short courses providing formal instruction in the theory and operation of the instruments are given at regular intervals during the year. Several instruments are used for laboratory projects associated with undergraduate courses. Each year 15 to 20 undergraduates, primarily from MIT but also from nearby colleges such as Wellesley, Amherst and Williams, use some of these facilities to do senior theses and undergraduate research projects (the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program is a distinctive part of MIT and provides undergraduates direct access to these state-of-the-art analytical facilities). The facilities are dominantly used by graduate students doing thesis research. These graduate students become "experts" in day-to-day operation of facilities and upon leaving MIT they bring this expertise to industrial and government laboratories as well as other academic institutions.