A full on but successful 4 days on the XFM beamline at the Ausgralian Synchrotron. We mixed things up this time by running some tree cores for Casey's PhD work - lots of cool features showing up! We also mapped a bunch of stalagmites, including some pilot data for my next job. 74 elemental maps made, a new record for us!

#synchrotron #xfm #dendrochemistry #speleothem #stalagmite #palaeoclimate #palaeoemvironment

The PhD student I'm co-supervising is visiting for a couple of weeks, and today I learned that trees can just move nutrients around themselves (and maybe metals?). They can just YOINK things out of their cells and send it to other needier cells! This is a big pivot from speleothems, where things tend to stay where they're put! Anyway, learning lots, trying not to be a shit supervisor, maybe succeeding? Prob too early to tell...

#dendrochronology #dendrochemistry #palaeoenvironment #academia