Week 7:
Baruch Institute for Marine & Coastal Sciences

June 29, 2013

This week went by fast. I have three sets of samples right now, and I had to process them without mixing up which was which. To that end, I’m keeping clear notes on what I’ve done so far. Two of the three samples were the same as what I’ve been dealing with already. The other one, however, is different in that it has been in the field for a full month. Consequently, the 1-month sample had significantly more sediment than the others, and the test tubes wouldn’t fit it all. We decided to use cups in addition to the tubes to process the excess.  However, since we only had three replicates for each plot, if we used two for finding the organic/inorganic ratio, then there would only be one replicate for grain size distribution, and we need at least two to find a statistically valid result.  Erik, Tracy and I had a long discussion and eventually figured out the solution: We split the sample that were in cups into two parts by mass since they were mostly mud, and the samples in tubes we split by volume.

During the first half of the week, I did normal chores: cleaned tiles, spun samples, the usual. On Thursday and Friday, I went to the Clemson Lab and processed samples using the LS 13 320 Laser Diffraction Particle Size Analyzer (I decided to put its full name here because it sounds kind-of cool) and obtained grain size distribution data.  Additionally, I made good progress on data processing. I finished the inauguration summary sheet for one and half sets of data and part of the grain size distribution sheet.  I also cleaned the cups that the machine uses for processing samples.

In addition to the smooth process of dealing with the samples, Nick – a maintenance worker for the USC Maine Field Lab – cooked hotdogs for us. He is in charge of fundraising for United Way, and brings free hotdogs once a year. I felt lucky to be able to attend this tradition (though mostly because the chili he made was so yummy).

Next week I will go out with Tracy and Susan to collect more water samples, process the last part of my data, and maybe deploy more tiles.  Hope the weather will be nice and dry!