Today was epic!
So you can understand how cool it was, you need some background info first.
1. When things (dust, dead plankton, etc.) fall from the surface ocean down into the deep, we catch some of it on 'sediment traps.'
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| WHOI.edu |
2. Since my project is analyzing barium (Ba) in the Gulf of Eilat, I wanted to look at these falling particles from the sediment traps under a really fancy microscope [micro-Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM)] to search for BaSO4 (barite) crystals (these have so far been shown to be the #1 influence on Ba isotopes).
3. To search for BaSO4, you are looking for symmetrical, oval-shaped, bright, white crystals ~2 micrometers in size.
4. Then, you play 'I Spy!'
This is what the overall image looks like:
The BaSO4 crystals are likely the bright, white dots in these images:
Then, there's these beautiful images of dead plankton and salt crystals that I couldn't help but take photos of:
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| Salt Crystal |
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| Top left: pinnate diatom, Top right: salt crystal, Bottom right: plankton |
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| Plankton! |
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| Plankton! |
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| I dunno... but I like them! |
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| A Danish pastry? |
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| No idea. |
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| Reminded me of a skull... |
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| Popcorn ball? |
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ReplyDeleteVery cool! Now I want a micro-SEM. The circular one looks like Asteromphalus, the star-like one is probably an acantharian, and the next pic looks like a dinoflagellate, possibly thecate. Not sure about the danish pastry and the rest.
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