The sediment processing laboratory is a space for preparing marine and non-marine sedimentary samples for microscopy and other analyses, which require individual components or fabric specific analysis (e.g., Mass Spectrometry, trace metals, isotope studies…). Preparation methods include separating and picking of biogenic particles, thin section dying techniques, sieving for granulometry, and creating smear slides and acetate peels.

The sedimentology lab at the Permafrost Research section aims to study the transport and accumulation processes of permafrost-related deposits and classify sediment sequences in general. Therefore, the following parameters are investigated: sediment structure description, grain-size distribution and mass specific magnetic susceptibility.

Soil samples collected in the study area are placed in a plastic bag on site, sealed and labelled with a unique sample label. After sample storage, some pre-treatments have to be carried out before the physico-chemical investigation. Pre-treatment includes sample splitting, drying, sieving (< 2 mm for fine soil, see Soil Laboratory - Particle Size Analysis) and digestion. The sample is divided by a riffle divider or by quartering to the desired quantity. The samples are either dried in air …