Dear all,
As a Ph-D student at the Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences I am
currently investigating the Rupelian/Chattian transition in NE Belgium.
The studied sections are well documented on biostratigraphic grounds
(foraminifera, dinoflagellates and nannoplankton) but particular horizons
could get some support from geochemical point of view.
In order to provide our study with a good absolute date we would like to
analyze foraminifera on their Sr-isotope signal.
Could anybody send me some practical information on that subject? More
specific I'm searching for an answer on the following questions:
- - How much
material is required for such Sr-isotope analysis? (I've already been in
contact with Prof. Dr. M. Thirlwall of the Royal Holloway University of
London and he asked for 100ng of Sr… but - before starting to pick out
and clean forams - I would like to know how many forams are required for
100 ng of Sr!)
- Has anybody got experience
with analyses on (benthic) forams? And if so… Could you recommend
some general treatments for the material
(cleaning forams with ultrasonic cleaner, crushing them and picking
out the original foram test without
sediment or infill; cleaning them with a weak acid in order to remove
possible
overgrowth?)
And… last but not least…
- - How much
does one analysis cost and how long does this normally take?
Thank you very much in advance!
Ellen De Man
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Ellen DE MAN
Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences
Department of Paleontology
Vautierstraat 29
B-1000 Brussels
Belgium
tel: +32 / 2 / 627 44 91
fax: +32 / 2 / 627 41 74
E-mail: Ellen.Deman@naturalsciences.be
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