Loading Samples

Hand loading of sample

The rock specimens are crushed and minerals or whole rock samples are separated from the rock using a combination of heavy liquid flotation, magnetic separation and handpicking under a microscope. The samples are loaded a few grains at a time into aluminum foil tubes which are folded down to form small packets.

Irradiation

The packets are loaded into foil tubes and the tubes are inserted into the irradiation container, recording the positions of the samples in the container. The samples are sent to the McMaster Nuclear Reactor in Hamilton, Ontario to be irradiated.

Preparation for Mass Spectrometry

After irradiation, the samples are split into aliquots for analysis. They are loaded into a copper planchet with 1 millimeter and 4 millimeter diameter holes. Each hole typically contains 1-4 grains of biotite, hornblende, whole rock volcanic or K-feldspar. Each sample is split into at least two holes and analyzed separately to judge reproducibility of analytical results.