The Marine Sediment Analysis Lab provides a full range of instruments for conducting compositional, granulometric, and geochemical analyses of deep-sea sediments. The lab was recently (Jan., 2000) awarded an NSF equipment grant to upgrade instrumentation to establish a fully automated, high-throughput facility for supporting high-resolution, high-volume research projects. The lab is operated and managed by Dr. Peter deMenocal; Linda Baker and Pat Malone are the two senior technicians responsible for analysis, maintainance, and training.
Analyses which we routinely conduct in the lab include: Calcium carbonate analysis (by coulometry, manual and automated instruments), biogenic opal analysis (by wet reduction, spectrophotometry (Mortlock and Froelich, 1989)), and organic carbon/nitrogen analysis by flash combustion/chromatography (Verardo et al., 1990). Facilities are also available for washing, sonicating, picking, and weighing samples for stable isotopic analyses. Two fume hoods are also available.
The available lab instrumentation and related specifications are listed here. New analytical capabilities recently added to the facility include a Jobin-Yvon Panorama ICP-AES (33 detector) with autosampler attachment for sub-ppb concentration determination for up to 72 elements. We have also acquired a Merchantek MicroMill device for fine-scale (50 micron path width), curvilinear sampling of mollusk shells at monthly resolution.
Most instruments in the lab are linked through a local area network to a central data server so that PI's can transfer and access their data remotely.
Analytical recharge fees
Analytical recharge fees have been calculated for carbonate, biogenic opal, organic C/N, and trace metal (Mg/Ca and Sr/Ca of biogenic carbonates by ICP-OES) analyses based on associated costs of consumables.
References
Mortlock, R.A., and P.N. Froelich, A simple method for the rapid determination of biogenic opal in pelagic marine sediments, Deep-Sea Research, 36, 1415-1426, 1989.
Verardo, D., P.N. Froelich, and A. McIntyre, Determination of organic carbon and nitrogen in marine sediments using the Carlo Erba NA-1500 Analyzer, Deep-Sea Res., 37, 157-165, 1990.