UT Chron

Following my field season in January 2019, I utilized UT Chron’s mineral separation facilities to separate the sandstone samples I collected from northern Patagonia and assist my mentor, Kristina Butler, with her samples. Kristina graciously taught me every aspect of heavy mineral separation from acquiring/prepping the rock sample to shipping the extracted zircons to Arizona LaserChron Center. Following is a list of practices and equipment I learned about:

  • Making billets from portions of samples using the wet rock saw

  • Hammering samples to feed into the mechanical rock jaw crusher

  • Further fining samples on a disk pulverizer

  • Hydraulically separating on the Wilfley and Gemini tables

  • Heavy liquid separation using both methyl iodide (MEI) and bromoform

  • Magnetic separation on the Frantz Isodynamic magnetic separator

  • Using a Wig-L-Bug grinding mill for baryte removal

  • Viewing final mineral extractions on a microscope to estimate zircon count and note any extraneous minerals such as pyrite, baryte, and monazite

  • Appropriately labeling, packaging, and shipping final samples to ALC for mounting

  • Communicating with ALC to schedule a visit and prepare for LA-ICP-MS analyses

  • Being cautious and taking particular measures to prevent cross-contamination of samples throughout the entire separation process

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