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Sampling

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Analytical Sedimentology

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Abstract

Samples are collected (1) for comparison with other samples to help identify similar stratigraphic units and to distinguish between different ones, and to show the lateral and/or vertical variation within the units; (2) for detailed laboratory analysis (e.g., for pollen and microfossil identifications, for textural or compositional study, or for geochemical analysis). Sampling occupies a key position in any sedimentological investigation because it is both where the investigation truly begins and because all conclusions are fundamentally tied to the properties of the samples collected. Nonetheless, in our experience (and see most textbooks!), this aspect of a project receives the least attention. Most workers believe that they can intuitively select representative samples—and most workers have inherent biases, albeit unconscious, that guide them to select what “looks” most interesting or promising for the purposes of their investigation: a potential source of error in the study. Altogether too few workers clearly relate and confine the conclusions of their study to the sampled population of data.

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Authors
  1. Douglas W. Lewis
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  2. David McConchie
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© 1994 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Lewis, D.W., McConchie, D. (1994). Sampling. In: Analytical Sedimentology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-2636-0_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-2636-0_4

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4613-6131-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4615-2636-0

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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