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Effects of the peat acid digestion protocol on geochemically and morphologically diverse tephra deposits

Effects of the peat acid digestion protocol on geochemically and morphologically diverse tephra deposits
Effects of the peat acid digestion protocol on geochemically and morphologically diverse tephra deposits
Tephra shards for electron probe microanalysis are most efficiently extracted from peat using acid digestion, which removes organic material that hinders density separation methods. However, strong acids are known to alter glass chemical compositions, and several studies have examined how acid digestion affects rhyolitic volcanic glass. The focus on rhyolitic tephra in these studies leaves considerable uncertainty, as the dissolution rates of natural glasses (including tephra) are determined by the chemical composition and surface area/volume ratio, both of which vary in tephra deposits. Here, we use duplicate samples of basaltic, trachydacitic and rhyolitic tephra to examine physical and geochemical alteration following acid digestion. Scanning electron microscope imagery reveals no discernible degradation of glass surfaces, and electron probe microanalysis results from duplicate samples are statistically indistinguishable. These findings suggest the acid digestion protocol for organic peats does not significantly alter glass geochemistry regardless of shard morphologies or geochemical compositions.
0267-8179
269-274
Monteath, Alistair J.
51195e1e-5ac5-4845-a4fc-e9f86862a2db
Teuten, Alex E.
9ac179e7-8ced-4509-8c18-7d32d80afbdb
Hughes, Paul D. M.
14f83168-b203-4a91-a850-8c48535dc31b
Wastegård, Stefan
facdb1e2-f4fb-453d-b0e2-1bb76ff0ea9d
Monteath, Alistair J.
51195e1e-5ac5-4845-a4fc-e9f86862a2db
Teuten, Alex E.
9ac179e7-8ced-4509-8c18-7d32d80afbdb
Hughes, Paul D. M.
14f83168-b203-4a91-a850-8c48535dc31b
Wastegård, Stefan
facdb1e2-f4fb-453d-b0e2-1bb76ff0ea9d

Monteath, Alistair J., Teuten, Alex E., Hughes, Paul D. M. and Wastegård, Stefan (2019) Effects of the peat acid digestion protocol on geochemically and morphologically diverse tephra deposits. Journal of Quaternary Science, 34 (4-5), 269-274. (doi:10.1002/jqs.3104).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Tephra shards for electron probe microanalysis are most efficiently extracted from peat using acid digestion, which removes organic material that hinders density separation methods. However, strong acids are known to alter glass chemical compositions, and several studies have examined how acid digestion affects rhyolitic volcanic glass. The focus on rhyolitic tephra in these studies leaves considerable uncertainty, as the dissolution rates of natural glasses (including tephra) are determined by the chemical composition and surface area/volume ratio, both of which vary in tephra deposits. Here, we use duplicate samples of basaltic, trachydacitic and rhyolitic tephra to examine physical and geochemical alteration following acid digestion. Scanning electron microscope imagery reveals no discernible degradation of glass surfaces, and electron probe microanalysis results from duplicate samples are statistically indistinguishable. These findings suggest the acid digestion protocol for organic peats does not significantly alter glass geochemistry regardless of shard morphologies or geochemical compositions.

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Accepted/In Press date: 31 March 2019
e-pub ahead of print date: 11 July 2019

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Local EPrints ID: 433306
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/433306
ISSN: 0267-8179
PURE UUID: c9189d34-41fb-444b-82c0-6d7002c72c59
ORCID for Paul D. M. Hughes: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-8447-382X

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Date deposited: 13 Aug 2019 16:30
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 02:47

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Author: Alistair J. Monteath
Author: Alex E. Teuten
Author: Stefan Wastegård

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