Sussex Scrapbook
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Wildlife walks throughout the year
Friday 20th January 2006
Brighton Marina
Today I was one of the supervisors on a sampling trip to the Brighton Marina by
a class of 2nd year undergraduates. Among other responsibilities, my task was to
show them how to take sediment samples from the seabed some fifteen feet below
us. It was a very cold, long days work which, on reflection, went reasonably
well.
Water samples were also taken and from both sample types we will be showing the
students how to extract and analyse organic compounds known as PAH's. These are
products formed from the combustion of fossil fuels and some of them are known
carcinogens. Even though I tried to take a back seat and leave them to it, I ended up covered
in muck and stank like high-heaven on the train home.
Here are one of the groups of students
taking their first sediment sample with the Van Veen sediment grab.
We were taking the samples from 20 sites
that covered the extensive network of jetties.
The marina houses about 1200 boats, which
must add up to hundreds of millions of pounds!
Here's the product that we were after.
Smelly old sediment!
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