Preparing Shells for Isotopic Analysis
We will process and clean our shells in the Holland lab, located at the Oceanic Institute of Hawai‘i Pacific University.
Shells will be cleaned using deionized distilled water, incubated at 70°C, and brushed to remove all soil and organic matter.
Once visual examination indicates that the shells are clean, they will be ground into a fine powder by mortar and pestle and separated into two equal-sized samples. Each sample will be weighed and the weight will be recorded.
Shells will be shipped to outside facilities for isotope analysis. We currently plan to ship our shells to the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory for 14C dating, and the UC Davis Stable Isotope Facility for d13C and d18O analysis.
- Published on Apr 23, 2022
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