Acquisition of a CO2 Coulometer and a Laser-Diffraction Particle-Size Analyzer for the Sediment Analysis Laboratory at East Carolina University

East Carolina University, Greenville NC

Investigators

Abstract

0080605 Rigsby This grant provides partial support of the costs of acquiring both a particle size analyzer and a carbon dioxide coulometer for the analysis of the total organic and inorganic carbon contents of sediment samples. This basic equipment of the analysis of sediment characteristics will facilitate ongoing and planned paleoclimatic and sedimentological research by faculty in the Geology Department at East Carolina University. Studies of lacustrine and riverine sediments cored in the Bolivian Altiplano, one of the few sedimentary archives of low latitude Quaternary paleoclimates in the southern hemisphere, should yield new insights into low latitude climate fluctuations and its influence on human settlement in the high Andes. Additionally, studies of the Holocene development of the Outer Banks barrier island system and the sedimentological response of these systems and coastal plain estuaries to frequent large storm events (i.e. Hurricane Floyd, 1999) are a natural focus of faculty in this department proximally located to one of the world's great natural laboratories for the study of barrier beach and estuarine dynamics. ***