UNCORRECTED PROOF Book ID: 326999_1_En ChapterID: 11 Dispatch Date: 6/04/2015 ProofNo:1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 1 Chapter 11 Investigating the Use of Scanning X-Ray Fluorescence to Locate Cryptotephra in Minerogenic Lacustrine Sediment: Experimental Results Nicholas L. Balascio, Pierre Francus, Raymond S. Bradley, Benjamin B. Schupack, Gifford H. Miller, Bjørn C. Kvisvik, Jostein Bakke and Thorval- dur Thordarson © Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015 I. Croudace, G. Rothwell (eds.), Micro-XRF Studies of Sediment Cores, Developments in Paleoenvironmental Research, DOI 10.1007/978-94-017-9849-5_11 N. L. Balascio () Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, NY 10964, USA Department of Geosciences, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, USA e-mail: balascio@ldeo.columbia.edu NR. S. Bradley Department of Geosciences, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, USA P. Francus Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique, Centre Eau, Terre et Environnement, Québec, QC G1K 9A9, Canada GEOTOP, Montréal, QC H3C 3P8, Canada B. B. Schupack · G. H. Miller INSTAAR and Department of Geological Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80303, USA B. C. Kvisvik · J. Bakke Department of Geography, University of Bergen, Fosswinckelsgate 6, N-5020 Bergen, Norway T. Thordarson School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH93JW, UK Abstract Methods to isolate and analyze low concentrations of tephra—cryp- totephra—are destructive, time consuming, and can be prohibitive when sample size is limited, when looking for tephra over long stratigraphic intervals, or when sediments are minerogenic. Therefore, a more rapid, non-destructive approach to detecting cryptotephra would allow for wider application of tephrochronology and for more complete evaluation of tephra content within sedimentary profiles. In this experiment, we test the ability of scanning X-ray fluorescence to detect tephra glass shards with different composition, concentration, and grain size in minerogenic lacustrine sediment. Synthetic sediment cores spiked with tephra were created in centrifuge tubes, which provided a simple means to introduce tephra in known positions and to replicate the process of analyzing real sediment cores. Author's Proof