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- Place the archive section in the core tray with the blue endcap up against the benchmark (Figure 2).
Figure 2. Benchmark - Adjust the section so that it is as flat as possible with respect to the plane of the benchmark.
- Click the Start button to open the Section Information screen.
Figure 3. Section Information Screen - Place the cursor in the SCAN text field (center of Figure 3) and scan the section label, the information automatically fills for Expedition, Site, Hole, and so on.
- Enter Comments (field is optional).
- Missing Top: If a sample taken at top of section (material is missing), position the section half all the way up to the benchmark. Enter missing length, software will automatically adjust.
- Exclude Intervals: enter section intervals to be excluded. Specify Interval: enter specific intervals to be measured. Measure Control Set: Measurement control for the QE Pro.
- When ready, click the Start Measurement button. Double check to make sure the Label Length matches the LIMS Length. If the QE Pro does not require calibration (see QE Pro Calibration), proceed to the next step.
- The sensor assembly moves down the track while the laser acquires a profile of the split surface of the section (Figure 4).
Figure 4. Laser Profile
- After the surface profile is completed, the measured section length is displayed. Confirm length (Figure 5, below). Adjust if needed. Apply Glad Wrap to the surface of sediment cores. Click GO!!!
IMPORTANT!!! Glad rap must have a good seal to the surface of the core; any bubbles or wrinkles will affect the measurement. Any mud that gets inside the integration sphere will ruin it!!! - Click GO!
Figure 5. Final Sample Preparation - The measurement sequence begins. For efficiency, measurements begin at the bottom of the section and move upcore. Results are displayed during acquisition on instrument graphs on screen as shown in Figure 6, below.
Note that the QE Pro has several tabs that display different views of the color reflectance data. Tabs can be changed during the measurement sequence. - After the section has been measured, the logger takes measurements of the MS2K and white standards as verification.
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1. | If the QE Pro is out of calibration, the Instrument Calibration screen will appear. |
2. | Click the Calibrate Instruments button to begin the calibration process. The logger moves the QE Pro integrating sphere over the white calibration standard and lowers it until it touches. It will take some preliminary measurements to establish the integrating time based on an 80% saturation level of the total response. These measurements take about 0.30–0.55 seconds for the current light and detector configuration. (Figure 9, below) |
3. | Click Accept for the suggested integration time. The logger will then take 20 measurements of the white standard at the automatic integration time. Figure 9. White Calibration |
4. | After the white measurements are completed, the logger will raise the integrating sphere, position it over the dark standard, and lower it on the dark standard. The shutters on the light sources will close and the dark measurement will acquire 20 measurements, as above. When finished, Click Accept! |
5. | Figure 12 shows the normalization of spectra that will occur with the just-acquired calibration. |
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