Re: heavy&light minerals

In the Soil Survey Laboratory Methods Manual (Soil Survey Investigations Report No. 42),
there is a short summary of the method that we have used to separate heavy and light
minerals. Minerals are separated by specific gravity >2.8 or 2.9 g/mL using sodium
polystungstate. Typically, we do not do these kinds of separations at the Soil Survey Laboratory,
but they have recently used here with some heavy metal studies. Upon separation, these grains
were analyzed using x-ray diffraction. The SSIR No. 42 is available on the NRCS web. Check the
manual and refer to page 379. If you have any more questions, please contact me.