Report on samples from Northern Territory Department of Resources Core Facility, Alice Springs

Abstract

'This report details analytical progress with small (20-40g) samples of core taken for geochemical studies from two cores from the Amadeus Basin.

Sample analysis has hit two unfortunate snags. First, the detector in the stable isotopic lab of Ilya Bindeman here has become contaminated and unreliable. It is an expensive piece of equipment at the heart of the mass spectrometer, and is being fixed, but not yet to a schedule that is predictable. This instrument is my chief source of stable isotopic analyses (specimens labeled ?calc? in Table 1) at no cost. If it is not fixed in a timely fashion, money will be needed to purchase analyses elsewhere, which brings me to the second snag. My current research funds have been depleted to a degree which makes the whole rock major element analyses impractical at the moment. Both problems will be solved by July 1, 2013, when new university money is guaranteed, and much new federal grant income is possible. I write this on the eve of the US financial crisis widely known as ?sequestration?, so federal funding is at unusually high risk. Analyses should be available by August 2013.'