Chapel Hill, NC – As the College of Wooster Commencement ceremony was just finishing, our rising seniors were starting their summer research. Ben Kumpf (’18) and I are visiting the labs in the Department of Geological Sciences at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. We are using their Isotope Geochemistry Lab to measure Sr-Nd-Pb isotopes of pillow lavas from our study site in northern British Columbia. The first step in the process is to dissolve our rock powders using several strong acids. Fortunately, we were able to send some of our samples in advance, and the good folks here at UNC dissolved about half of our samples for us.
Ben Kumpf (’18) went straight from his flight to the lab and is already hard at work. He measured portions of the dissolved samples into new vials so that we can prepare them for Sr isotope analysis. The dissolved samples will be made into solutions that we’ll use tomorrow.
Look for our posts in the following week to learn more about how isotopes are analyzed and what we hope to learn.
Cool! Good luck to the isotope team. We all have a great summer ahead of us.
Thanks! I’m looking forward to hearing about your research adventures this summer as well. Will we see some paleontologist-in-the-lab posts?