Discussion

Overall, the data shows signifiant variation between different sources of chert across the northern Belize region, and shows potential for an expanded research project. The laser ablation methodology and analyzing parameters determined by this project showed that we were able to produce concentrations close to certified values for standards for the majority of analytes.

Timeframe and Budget 

Method required 24 ablation spot analysis on samples and 44 ablation spots on standards. Total analytical time was 2:13:34 hours. Instrument tuning took an additional 1.5 hour, and data reduction also took an additional 1.5 hour. Total time requirement for analysis equals 5:13:43 hours.  For total set up and analysis time, the final budget was ~$374.

Future Research 

The next stages of this research project will be to include a much large sample set of geological specimens, fieldwork during the 2023 summer season will be aimed at sampling chert sources across the majority of northern Belize. These samples will be subject to the method develop in this study. It would also be useful to determine which analytes that are causing the most variation between source locations, to allow for more targeted analysis.