Sampling the subsurface: 7 of 10

The end product, 5’ samples of “relatively” undisturbed saprolite! Here are the first two samples extracted from the hole. They are laid on the table in the shade. The samples are encased in plastic tubing. The glare on the plastic makes it very difficult to see the samples inside in this image. The tubes are sealed shut with duct tape and caps to prevent water from evaporating. One thing that we want to know is how much water can this material hold and how much was in it at the time we sample it. To estimate the amount of water in the lab we will weigh the samples prior to the water evaporating. We then put the samples in an oven to dry them out. After they are dry we re-weight them. The difference in weight was all due to water. A professor at Dickinson college will then take the samples and look at geochemistry, in other words what minerals make up the sample. These samples are hard to get but will tell us so much about how water moves through it as well as how that water moving through it has changed the solid granite into the material we have sampled.

 

Done