299-2 A Comparative Study of the Elemental Makeup of Aquatic Sediments from Western New York Using Different Geochemical Analytical Methods

Session: Geochemical Studies of Sediments (Posters)

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Geochemical analytical techniques such as X-ray fluorescence, inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectroscopy can be used to examine different elemental concentrations, which can paint a broader picture of how sedimentary environments evolved through time. The samples analyzed in this study were from the Late Devonian Dunkirk & Hanover Formations, Quaternary varved lakebed sediment collected at Wright Beach and a modern sediment sample collected from the bottom of Lake Erie in June of 2024—all from near Dunkirk, NY. By doing a q and r mode cluster analysis on the XRF data, we can see what element abundances characterize the different units. The Hanover Fm. contained more Ca, La, Nd, Dy, In, and Ce than other samples. The Dunkirk Fm. contained more Zn, Co, Zr, W, As, Mo, and Pd than others. The Quaternary samples contained more Ba and Cs than other samples. The two modern samples were surprisingly dissimilar, with one containing a significant amount of Pb. The sediments were also digested with nitric acid and ran through ICP-OES, which revealed that the Dunkirk shale was the only sample to feature a detectable amount of arsenic, and the Quaternary sample was the only one in which cesium was detected. The Dunkirk and Quaternary samples had more than 1.5 times the amounts of iron in that of the Hanover and Modern samples. 

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Program. Vol. 57, No. 6, 2025

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