Ely and Amelia take on GSA and field work!

Marcus and Ely presenting on Dominica. 

Monica and Amelia presenting on Plum Creek Research.

Last time on the blog, we (Ely and Amelia) had just been to UVM working on XRF data. We then incorporated this data for our collaborative GSA posters! The conference was an exciting experience and we learned a lot from talking to other people in the field and attending sessions. We networked with Amanda's colleagues and took in the exhibits. We also had a great time riding electric scooters from the hotel to the conference center.


We have also been busy at work in the lab.  We moved machine lab spaces and have been preparing to have 4 gamma spectrometers as opposed to 1 soon. We also have been doing lots of housekeeping as we will be doing a larger move in the summer. This means lots of sorting, cleaning and getting samples ready. We also autoclaved. An autoclave is essentially a large steam bath that reaches temperatures that sterilize the machine's contents. We use this on our samples to ensure no creepy crawlies made it back from the field.

Ely will be away in London next semester and Amelia will be working in the lab again next semester!

China Project Update

Hey it’s Sophie, Alex, and Paige!

Sophie and Alex would like to welcome our new member of the lab Paige Monyak. She is a first year from Ohio interested in geology and environmental studies. She joined the geomorphology lab at the beginning of her first semester here at Oberlin and has been working on the China project. Over the 2019 Winter Term, she will be traveling to the Sichuan Province of China with a group of students and staff to visit various nature reserves and to have a more in depth understanding of the China project.

Sophie and Alex recently went to the Geological Society of America meeting in Indianapolis to present their research for the China project. It was so much fun to meet other people in the field, learn more about geomorphology, and contribute to a larger conversation surrounding the use of fallout radionuclides.

Sophie and Alex presenting at GSA

Sophie and Alex have been showing Paige the ins and outs of the lab. This semester, the sediment samples were wet sieved to separate them into different grain fractions. The separated sediment (<63um) will be used to begin the leaching process! By using these smaller grain sizes, the grain size dependencies of 137Cs and 210Pb can be eliminated. The next steps will be to run the sieved samples in a detector, create a leachate, then rerun the leached samples in a detector.

Next semester, Alex and Sophie will be studying abroad in New Zealand and Bolivia respectively. Paige and an additional lab member will be taking over! We trust our grains with her :)

Sophie, Alex, and Paige in the lab