Fun at the Argonne National Laboratory?

Greetings from Chicago (sort of)! Matt, DJ and I (Audrey) are at the Argonne National Laboratory using the synchrotron for our Cambodia sediments and the MSMA turfgrass project. If you aren't well versed in the synchrotron, you can find information here. Don't worry, we're still learning more about it ourselves (well, except for Matt). Here is an aerial view of the whole system:

*photo courtesy of the APS*

As you can see, it is quite the setup. Here are some additional pictures from our trip so far:

Work Station-yes, we use around 8 monitors

 This is actually where we put the sample in. We don't get to see this room very often and it closes with authority. The beam goes through the metal that transects the room. There are also cameras, mirrors, and other really scientific stuff that happens in here that perhaps Matt can explain more.

Here is DJ loading a sample into a magnetic tray that will move the sample around (the beam doesn't move)

Loaded sample with a camera and detector shooting on it. Just look at those coarse sediments!

This place is so big that we need tricycles to get around. Yes, I'm serious. Here we are going to get lunch at the cafe down the path.

Anyway, this is just a quick post to show you what we've been doing. Matt, Liz and I will be attending the SSSA conference from Nov. 3-7 so I think you'll get another blog post soon. 

*Audrey*

Soil Digestion Time

I know, it's been extremely too long since we've blogged! Since the field work is over, we've been spending some quality time in the lab working on the data. I thought it would be nice to post what I've been working on for the past few weeks and that is soil digestions. In this process, you add concentrated acids (nitric and hydrochloric acid) as well as 30% hydrogen peroxide (yup, just like you use on cuts, but in a much higher concentration) to extract different elements from the soil. Oh, and if that's not bad enough, you have to heat up these acids to 95 degrees C. No worries, proper PPE is always worn. Here are some pictures of the final product:

Volumetric flasks with concentrated acids that contain elements of interest

The tubes for the digestions are quite large

When the digests are finished, the soil looks extremely different from when you started. 

Soil before digestion

Soil after digestion

As you can see, you pretty much just end up with ultra pure sand in the end and all of the organic matter has been extracted from the soil. Well, that does it for now. I hope enjoyed the post, and if you have any questions, please feel free to post a comment!

-Audrey