Biogenic silica content (BSi, diatom remains) is a useful climate proxy that can be analyzed rapidly at high resolution. The
AAGL will analyze the BSi content of lake and marine sediment collected by collaborating scientists. BSi is extracted from ~100 mg of sediment with 10% Na2CO3 and the concentration is determined with a spectrophotometer following the procedure of Mortlock and Froelich (1989).
Reference
Mortlock R.A and Froelich P.N., 1989, A simple method for the rapid determination of biogenic opal in pelagic marine sediments. Deep-Sea Research 36, 1415-1426.
