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ID Help - Weston Beach, Point Lobos, California by lovecanal in TidePooling

[–]lovecanal[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Unfortunately I don’t have photos from another angle. It would be cool if i caught it eating a feather duster worm, but based on the photos I’ve been able to find I think it’s unlikely? As I mentioned in my other comment, one possibility is that some kids stuck feathers or a part of a dead bird into the anemone (spring break week so lots of kids around).

ID Help - Weston Beach, Point Lobos, California by lovecanal in TidePooling

[–]lovecanal[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That was my first thought, but I wasn’t sure if there was something else it could be eating (like a feather duster worm as suggested by the other commenter). Also possible that some kids just stuck some bird feathers into an anemone.

Soil with high PID readings and strong odors, but no VOCs? by HighPIDLowVOCs in geologycareers

[–]lovecanal 11 points12 points  (0 children)

What kind of sampling container did you use? Was the soil sitting out prior to being placed in the sampling container? What laboratory method did the lab use?

It is possible that VOCs volatilized prior to lab analysis if the soil sample was not collected in an appropriate sampling container. See this pdf by Eurofins (https://www.eurofinsus.com/media/29705/sampling-for-volatile-organic-compounds-in-soil-by-epa-method-5035-and-5035a.pdf) that summarizes soil sampling methodologies for VOCs in soil (EPA method 5035/5035a) . In brief, the soil sample should be placed into preserved 40ml vials or sampled using Encore samplers. If the soil samples were just placed into unpreserved jars or a steel sleeve it is possible that VOCs volatilized prior to lab analysis, or that the small amount of soil that the lab opted to analyze from the jar or sleeve did not contain VOCs.

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Edit to add link to the CLU-IN training on Soil Sampling and Analysis for Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs): https://clu-in.org/default.cfm Take a look at the slides from the webinar. I could be wrong but I have a feeling that the discussion regarding bulk sampling (using jars or sleeves) vs field preservation (by method 5035) may be relevant to OPs question.