Determination of absolute coccolith abundances in deep-sea sediments by spiking with microbeads and spraying (SMS-method)
Bollmann, J., Brabec. B., Corte, M. Y. and Geisen, M.
1999 Marine Micropaleontology, 38: 29-38
Bollmann, J., Brabec. B., Corte, M. Y. and Geisen, M., (1999), "Determination of absolute coccolith abundances in deep-sea sediments by spiking with microbeads and spraying (SMS-method)", Marine Micropaleontology, 38: 29-38.
Abstract:
A quick new method is described for the quantification of absolute nannofossil proportions in deep-sea sediments. This method (SMS) is the combination of Spiking a sample with Microbeads and Spraying it on a cover slide. It is suitable for scanning electron microscope (SEM) analyses and for light microscope (LM) analyses. Repeated preparation and counting of the same sample (30 times) revealed a standard deviation of 10.5%. The application of tracer microbeads with different diameters and densities revealed no statistically significant differences between counts. The SMS-method yielded coccolith numbers that are statistically not significantly different from values obtained from the filtration-method. However, coccolith counts obtained by the random settling method are three times higher than the values obtained by the SMS- and the filtration-meth od.
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