$Recommended centrifuge method: Specific grain size separation in the <63 µm fraction of marine sediments$
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Recommended centrifuge method: Specific grain size separation in the <63 µm fraction of marine sediments

The isolation of specific grain size classes of lithogenic samples and biogenic carbonate from the <63 µm fraction (i.e. clay and silt) of marine sediment is often a prerequisite to further pre-treatments and/or analytical measurements for palaeoceanographic studies. Established techniques employ...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	MethodsX Vol. 12; p. 102718
Main Authors:	Pryor, E.J., Tangunan, D., van der Lubbe, H.J.L., Simon, M.H., Hall, I.R.
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Netherlands Elsevier B.V 01-06-2024 Elsevier
Subjects:	Biogenic carbonate rich sediment Centrifugation Clay fraction Earth and Planetary Science Grain size isolation Lithogenic sediment Sediment grain size isolation of <63 µm fraction using a centrifuge Lithogenic sediment Grain size isolation Sediment grain size isolation of <63 µm fraction using a centrifuge Centrifugation Clay fraction Biogenic carbonate rich sediment
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Summary:	The isolation of specific grain size classes of lithogenic samples and biogenic carbonate from the <63 µm fraction (i.e. clay and silt) of marine sediment is often a prerequisite to further pre-treatments and/or analytical measurements for palaeoceanographic studies. Established techniques employed have included sieving, settling and micro-filtration (and/or a combination of these). However, these methods often use significant amounts of bulk sediment (often up to ∼3 g) and/or require considerable amounts of time during sediment processing (ranging from 48 h to 3 weeks) to isolate a size specific class for further analyses. Here, we build on previous approaches to isolate three grain size classes (e.g. <2 µm, clay; 2–10 µm, fine silt; and 10–63 µm, coarse silt) from the <63 µm fraction of marine sediment with the aid of a centrifuge at varying revolutions per minute using Stokes’ Law. We show the utility of our approach using two common sediment types dominated by (i) lithogenic and (ii) biogenic carbonate (specifically coccoliths) components of marine sediment cores. Our method reduces the amount of sample material required to 1–2 g to provide an isolated clay fraction (or other targeted size fraction) and decreases the sample processing time (to ∼1 hour) to enable high throughput of analysis, when compared to previous techniques for palaeoceanographic proxy measurements.•We recommend a more straightforward grain size isolation method for lithogenic sediment and biogenic carbonate sediment types•Isolating commonly targeted grain size fractions for palaeoceanographic studies using a centrifuge [Display omitted]
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	2215-0161 2215-0161
DOI:	10.1016/j.mex.2024.102718