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Quality control in the analysis of lake sediments for spheroidal carbonaceous particles
Author(s) -
Rose Neil L.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
limnology and oceanography: methods
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.898
H-Index - 72
ISSN - 1541-5856
DOI - 10.4319/lom.2008.6.172
Subject(s) - sediment , porosity , environmental science , mineralogy , contamination , identification (biology) , calibration , replicate , geology , geotechnical engineering , geomorphology , mathematics , statistics , ecology , biology
The use of spheroidal carbonaceous particles (SCPs) in environmental studies as a means to identify atmospherically deposited contamination, or as a technique to provide a chronology for lake sediment cores, is rapidly increasing. However, currently there are no internationally accepted quality controls for this methodology. No reference standard exists to provide inter‐calibration, and no standardized criteria for identification have been proposed. This paper addresses these issues. It is suggested that morphology (spheroidal but not spherical), color (black only), depth (i.e., three‐dimensional rather than disc‐like), and porosity (characteristic when present) should be used as criteria for SCP identification under the light microscope. A sediment reference material for SCP analysis has also been developed. Two hundred ten replicate analytical measurements were made on a homogenized sediment material resulting in a reliable estimate of the mean SCP concentration of 6005 ± 70 SCP per gram dry sediment (gDM −1 ). This material is available to SCP analysts for quality control purposes.