An Inter-lab Comparison of Mg/Ca & Sr/Ca Measurements in Foraminifera

Rutgers University New Brunswick, New Brunswick NJ

Investigators

Abstract

This SGER is an outgrowth of a proposal that was reviewed by the MG&G program last year. Reviews of the initial proposal were mixed and the proposal was declined because of the mixed reviews. It is clear that the use of Mg/Ca and Sr/Ca ratios in marine carbonate microfossils are emerging techniques that are being used more and more in paleoceanography studies. It is also clear that there can be major diferences in results on the same or similar materials between laboratories or in some cases seven within laboratories that complicate the interpretation of the measurements. Based on the mixed mail reviews and limited panel comments, Program concluded that work was need to determine if differences in laboratory procedures and methods were causing the discrepancies. This issue needs to be resolved soon because a number of investigators are starting to use this new proxy and data from the new laboratories are bein generated at a rapid pace. Thus Program invited the PI to develop a modest SGER proposal to run an inter-laboratory comparison that involved a number of workers that existing labs are setting up labs or are setting up labw to do Mg/Ca and Sr/Ca measurements for paleoceanography. The current SGER responds to the Program request. The PI has included a wide range of laboratories in the text and has arranged for a neutral investigator to evaluate the results of the text.