403 Chemistry

Ampulator

The ampule sealer was used. No issues to report.

Balances

The hangdown wire on the unknown side was broken on the Cahn Balance. The ETs glued the wire back together. The Balance was replaced with the spare and has not been tested since being repaired.

Carver Presses

Had frequent issues at times with the left press being unable to reach the set pressure as the set pressure increased. Basically, unable to do high pressures. It was fixed every time and would work well for a while, but the issue would eventually return.

The middle press started leaking a lot of oil at one point. ETs fixed it and no other issues with it since.

No issues with the right press.

The manual press had a minor, slow leak of oil from its base but it had no impact on use.

Coulometer

Acid dispenser was replaced due to the failure of the aspiration on the old dispenser. A new adaptor was installed between the new acid dispenser outlet and the coulometer tubing. 

During of the setups, the initial transmittance reading was lower than the standard. It was caused by the aged lamp. We replaced the lamp (CM140-005).  

Elemental Analyzer

No issues to report.

Freeze-dryer

No issues to report.

Fume Hoods

No issues to report.

Gas Lines / Manifolds

No issues to report.

GC: NGA1 / NGA2 / GC2

NGA2 was used for headspace and the occasional VAC sample.

We did an experiment for one scientist testing the release of HS gas over time. After taking a test sample, the gas was not measured until 6 hours later. No heating was used, room temperature only. After measuring the HS, the old cap with the injection hole was removed, the vial containing the sediment was purged with pure nitrogen, and the vial was recapped with a new cap. After another 6 hours, the HS was measured again, then purged with pure nitrogen again. This cycle was repeated over a few days.

GC2 was used heavily for PFT measurements. 

Hydrogen Generators

No issues to report.

IC

Had some very slight shouldering on one run that was messing up integration for sulfate. Replaced all inline filters and guard columns and everything was good afterwards.

ICP

No issues to report.

Spectrophotometer

The pump tubing (connected to the waste bottles) was replaced. 

SRA

Not used.

Titrators

Alkalinity

Had an error popup that could not be continued from and would not run samples afterwards without the error message popping up. It was a communication issue between the titrator and the pc that was not fully resolved until both the PC and titrator had both been restarted. 

There was another issue on the PC and Alkalinity software. During of the runs, a window error showed that there was not enough memory usage and the program stopped. The developer checked it and reboot the PC. The same problem did not happen again.  

Chlorinity

Not used.

Water System

Was working well for the first half of the expedition and then RO water maker started having production issues like on exp 402. Nanopure water then started falling to around 18 Mohm rather than 18.2 Mohm. The RO water production then improved steadily on its own over a couple weeks. Not sure of the source problem, but maybe something to do with the ship water source.

MBIO

The cold room was used as a clean space for sterilizing and cleaning supplies that were to be used for ancient DNA sampling. No access was allowed to anyone but the MBIO scientists.

Ancient DNA Mbio protocols

Catwalk sampling (Hole C):

-Samples will be taken from the bottom of Section 4 from each core in Hole C

-high resolution intervals (3 samples per core) will be chosen to supplement regular sampling

-Only 1 section will be cut open at a time for sampling.  No other cuts will be made until the aDNA sample is complete

PPE Requirements:

All techs asked to cover hair with hat or at least tie it back to prevent contamination.

Cutting Team is required to wear:

• Mask

• Double gloves

• Hair covered (hat or hair net)

Cutting team is 2 people. 1 operating the cutter, 1 holding the section (a third person can help hold the rest of the core liner, but from an extreme distance)

Sampler is required to wear:

• Double gloves

• Hair covered

• Mask

• Tyvek suit

• Safety glasses

Assistant to Sampler is required to wear:

• Double gloves

• Hair covered

• Mask

• Clean clothes, may require lab coat

Prior to receiving core:

• Prep core cutters (2) for catwalk

  • Wash in Catwalk sink to remove all visible mud

  • Spray with bleach

  • Wipe blade with bleach

  • Rinse with DI water

  • Spray Ethanol and wipe with paper towel

  • Wrap in aluminum foil

• Prep Spatulas (4) for catwalk

  • Wash in catwalk sink to removal all visible mud

  • Spray with bleach

  • Rinse with DI water

  • Spray Ethanol and wipe with paper towel

  • Wrap in Aluminum foil

Sample Procedure:

1. Collect drill fluid from the top of the core. If no free fluid is available, take sediment from the top of the core.

2. Select sample locations- All technicians, except cutting team, move inside the door after this is completed or to the end of the catwalk

3. If more than 1 sample is selected for a core, start with the bottom most sample

4. Cutting team with proper PPE (ensure gloves are clean) will spray the liner with bleach and then rinse with DI water.

5. Dry the liner fully with a paper towel

6. Cut the section with prepared core cutter (see above) and open control centrifuge tube

7. Use prepared spatula (see above) to separate the sections

8. Sampler scrapes the bottom of the section lightly to remove contamination

9. Using a 5 mL syringe, extract the aDNA sample from working half side of core

   1. If syringe does not work, use a spatula or scoopula to collect sample. These must also be prepared with bleach and ethanol prior to use.

10. Place in bag that assistant has ready. Assistant labels bag.

11. Take tracer sample next to the aDNA sample using syringe or head space plunger

12. Place sample in glass vial and label vial

13. If there are more samples, ensure cutting teams gloves are clean and move to next sample, repeating process from step 4.

14. Once MBIO sampling is complete, close cap to centrifuge control sample

15. Cutting team techs will repeat cleaning preparation on core cutters and spatulas after sampling is complete. 

16. If necessary due to cracked liner, saw will be used to cut core. This is also prepared with bleach, rinsed with DI water, and sprayed and wiped with Ethanol.

Twice per shift the centrifuge tube will be switched on catwalk for the control samples.

Mudline

• Pour mudline into 600 mL Nalgene beaker (pre-cleaned with bleach and DI water)

  • subsample beaker (3 x whirlpak scoop bags)

• PPE:

  • Tech holding top of core liner: single gloves, mask, glasses

  • Mbio scientist: suit, double gloves, mask, glasses

• -20C storage

Section Half Sampling (Hole D)

• Cores of interest need to be identified prior to being on deck

• Sections will sonic welded if ancient DNA samples are requested (no acetone)

• Sections will be run through NGR and Whole round track (WRMSL or STMSL without the GRA)

• No XSCAN is allowed

• After measurements, the sections will immediately be moved to the splitting room for sampling

• 2 JRSO technicians + 1 MBIO scientist+1 Assistant

PPE Requirements:

All individuals in splitting room will wear:

• Tyvek Suit

• Double Glove

• Mask

• Safety glasses

• hair should be secured in buff/hat and under the Tyvek suit hood.

Prior to sampling:

• Ensure the table is clean of all mud, then spray with bleach and wipe down before setting cores on the table

• Wipe cores with bleach before bringing them into splitting room

Sampling procedure:

1. Move sections to splitting room

2. Make sure all fans are off and vents closed/sealed shut

3. Spray the blades and wire with bleach and DI water

4. Wipe the white table with bleach and rinse with DI water

5. Technicians split section

6. Technicians open the section

7. Sampler scrapes the core at sample location to remove contamination

8. Using syringe, sample the ancient DNA samples (one for Lucinda, one for Stijn) and tracer sample

9. Assistant has a bag ready and labels it after the sample is taken. It maybe more efficient for the sampler to indicate the intervals of the samples prior to taking the sample. So the bags/vials can be pre-labeled

10. Move to next location on section and take the next set of samples

11. Move sections to the auxiliary tables

12. Wipe table down with bleach. Also clean the wire and blades with bleach, DI water, and ethanol. Use water sprayer only when absolutely necessary to clean table, wire, and blades. Squeegee table and follow original cleaning process before moving to next section.

13. Repeat the splitting and sampling process

14. Once a whole core is fully sampled the sections are passed out of the splitting room doors and the next core is passed in.

    • The technicians in Tyvek suits will not leave the splitting room. They will pass the cores out through a small opening to techs on the outside of the splitting room.