XRF Geochemical Analysis of the Ngandong Paleoanthropological Site in Java, Indonesia

Location

CSU Ballroom

Start Date

20-4-2015 2:00 PM

End Date

20-4-2015 3:30 PM

Student's Major

Chemistry and Geology

Student's College

Science, Engineering and Technology

Mentor's Name

Maija Sipola

Mentor's Email Address

maija.sipola@mnsu.edu

Mentor's Department

Chemistry and Geology

Mentor's College

Science, Engineering and Technology

Description

The Ngandong palaeoanthropological site in Central Java, Indonesia is located on a terrace above the Solo River and has produced fourteen Homo erectus fossils that, based on morphology, appear to be examples of recently-living Homo erectus. There is great interest in the age of these fossils, but efforts to date them directly have not been successful, and little is known about their stratigraphic context or the source of the sediments that contain them. Mineralogical and geochemical characterization of the Ngandong site stratigraphy can provide some insight into the processes that formed the site, as well as the source of the sediments. Previous geochemical analyses of bulk sediment samples using portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) methods showed little variability within the site stratigraphy. This study applies a higher-resolution geochemical method (standard X-ray fluorescence) to these fossil-bearing deposits to better characterize the sediments and differentiate source rock types within the Solo River drainage system. Twenty sand samples from Ngandong were milled, prepared into pellets, and analyzed with a Rigaku Supermini200 XRF instrument. These geochemical data provide a high-resolution characterization of the Ngandong site stratigraphy and thereby improve our understanding of the Solo River paleoflow dynamics and depositional history.

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Apr 20th, 2:00 PM Apr 20th, 3:30 PM

XRF Geochemical Analysis of the Ngandong Paleoanthropological Site in Java, Indonesia

CSU Ballroom

The Ngandong palaeoanthropological site in Central Java, Indonesia is located on a terrace above the Solo River and has produced fourteen Homo erectus fossils that, based on morphology, appear to be examples of recently-living Homo erectus. There is great interest in the age of these fossils, but efforts to date them directly have not been successful, and little is known about their stratigraphic context or the source of the sediments that contain them. Mineralogical and geochemical characterization of the Ngandong site stratigraphy can provide some insight into the processes that formed the site, as well as the source of the sediments. Previous geochemical analyses of bulk sediment samples using portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) methods showed little variability within the site stratigraphy. This study applies a higher-resolution geochemical method (standard X-ray fluorescence) to these fossil-bearing deposits to better characterize the sediments and differentiate source rock types within the Solo River drainage system. Twenty sand samples from Ngandong were milled, prepared into pellets, and analyzed with a Rigaku Supermini200 XRF instrument. These geochemical data provide a high-resolution characterization of the Ngandong site stratigraphy and thereby improve our understanding of the Solo River paleoflow dynamics and depositional history.

Recommended Citation

Weiss, Amanda and Melissa Kohout. "XRF Geochemical Analysis of the Ngandong Paleoanthropological Site in Java, Indonesia." Undergraduate Research Symposium, Mankato, MN, April 20, 2015.
https://cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu/urs/2015/poster_session_B/21