We all have heard about x-rays and their abilities to see through things. X-rays can be used by doctors to see your bones and internal organs. For us natural scientists, we can use them for dozens of other cool things to examine natural structures. X-rays can be used to see the layering of crystals and the atomic structures (William Bragg and his son won the 1915 Nobel prize for this discovery). X-rays can also be used to observe metals in the environment. The most common way is through x-ray fluorescence. Essentially, atoms getting bombarded by x-rays will emit x-rays themselves, and the energy of these secondary x-rays can be unique to individual elements.
 
 
Synchrotrons are fancy x-ray machines, that can cause elements to fluoresce, even ones at low concentrations due to their high energy. I was fortunate enough to partner with Alida Perez-Fodich of Cornell’s Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Department for some time on Cornell’s High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS). There we were able to make element maps of many different elements, to see how they move or are leached out as rocks weather and soils form.

 
 
 
Picture shows Justin Richardson in side the beamline ‘hutch’ moving samples and adjusting the detector.
 
 
 

Below is an image of just one example of mapping we were able to do! Here we show that Chromium and Vanadium are closely associated with the location of Iron in Hornblende minerals (black minerals). Moreover, the quartz and plagioclase feldspares (white minerals) have very little iron, chromium, or vanadium.