Laboratories
GIS and Geology Facilities
The Brooklyn College Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences has a geology material preparation room (saws, seives, mineral separation equipment), a wet chemistry lab, a soil lab, a sedimentology lab, a paleontology lab, a map room, a computer lab, a mineralogy lab with a class set student binocular petrographic microscopes, binocular microscopes with digital camera, and a large mineral and rock collection that are routinely used for teaching geoscience majors. The department has recently purchased GPS units, and instruments (pH, Eh,conductivity meters) and kits to measure common water quality parameters.
The Geospatial teaching and research laboratory includes 24 computers with ArcGIS and IDRISI software packages, scanner, black and white and color printers, and 20 high-precision handheld (Trimble Juno) GPS units. In addition, the department has access to facilities and equipment in the Environmental Sciences Analytical Center (ESAC) at Brooklyn College. ESAC currently has a JEOL-2010 Transmitted Electron Microscope (TEM), one Philips analytical X-ray Diffractometer (XRD), a Reaction-Cell Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer. The ICP-MS is coupled with with liquid chromatography and gas chromatography for metal speciation analysis. The facilities and associated labs are equipped to characterize geological and environmental samples down to nano-scale and at ppt level concentrations. Researchers also have access to a Hitachi TM-1000 SEM with a SwiftED-TM EDS system.
The Department of Anthropology and Archaeology has two Sokkia Total Stations for high-precision surveying and site mapping, combined with two Recon data loggers and surveying software. The department also has the use of two high-quality digital SLR cameras (Canon DS-40 and D5 Mark II) and accessory lenses.
Tin Ore and Metal Characterization
Petrographic Characterization
Ore samples will be initially characterized for their overall petrology (the type and arrangement of mineral phases within samples) using the JEOL secondary electron microscope (SEM) located at Kingsborough Community College. This instrument is approximately three years old and is state-of-the-art. Detailed image analyses of samples will be performed and, where determined important, x-ray maps will be produced to provide a qualitative guide for quantitatively analysis. Connolly has more than 20 years of experiencing using SEMs. This is a totally nondestructive technique.
Major and Minor Element Abundances
The major and minor element abundances of ores and artifacts with the electron microprobe (EMP) at the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory (LPL) at the University of Tucson, which has a brand-new CAMECA SX100 equipped with five spectrometers, and at Rutgers University, which has a three-year-old JEOL superprobe that is equipped with five spectrometers. Connolly has 20 years of experience performing EMP analyses. He spends part of the year in residence at the LPL, where he is an adjunct associate professor of planetary sciences. When not at the LPL, he teaches at CUNY, and thus the use of the EMP at Rutgers University would be convenient. Each laboratory is managed by a highly competent scientist, both of whom have considerable experience with EMPs and more than 20 years of research accomplishments with EMPs. This is a totally nondestructive technique.
Trace Element Abundances
Trace elements within silicate and opaque phases will be analyzed in collaboration with Professor McDonough and Dr. Ash at the University of Maryland with Laser ablation, inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICPMS) Finnigan Element 2. McDonough's lab has a long history of excellent measurements, publishing significant papers on problems in geology and cosmochemistry, and Connolly has used the facility many times over the course of the last five years. For the elements in question detection limits of tens to hundreds of ppb are possible with the Finnigan Element 2 as well as the ability to resolve the major stable isotopes of tin, which may provide additional constraints on the source region of ores and distribution patterns of tin and artifacts related to the source regions. The technique will create a small hole in a sample, approximately 30 to 50 microns in diameter and approximately 10 microns in depth.
Strontium Isotope Analysis
Analytical Plan: Sample preparation will be completed in the lab of Hemming at the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Queens College (CUNY). This lab is equipped with two 2m class 100 laminar flow hoods to prevent contamination of samples during handling. A 16-channel Watson-Marlow peristaltic pump is used to precisely control the injection of reagents during the Sr isolation procedure. Procedural blanks are completed with each batch (typically 12 to 16 samples) to ensure no environmental contamination has occurred. Mass spectrometry will be performed at either SUNY Stony Brook, where Hemming is a visiting professor, or the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, where Hemming is an adjunct research scientist.
