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doi:10.2204/iodp.proc.308.205.2008

Methods

Samples were analyzed at the Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), using the standard hydrometer method (ASTM D422-63, 2003). We chose this method because we have considerable experience using this technique on fine-grained soils, the method is capable of processing large samples (>20 g) with no minimum particle size restrictions, and it is internationally recognized as a standard in the American Standard for Testing and Materials (ASTM D422-63; ASTM International, 2003) and in the British Standard Institution (BS 1377; British Standards Institution, 1990).

Specific gravity was determined on a representative subset of samples at MIT according to ASTM Standard D854-06 (ASTM International, 2006), which is a water pycnometer method. In this method, the mass of a pycnometer (of known volume) that is filled with deaired water and a small amount of soil are compared with the same pycnometer filled only with deaired water.

The hydrometer method used here is in general accordance with ASTM D422-63 (ASTM International, 2003) guidelines, but we describe the slightly different approaches taken at Penn State and MIT below. In addition to the hydrometer method, other authors have used laser particle and pipette analyses for measuring particle size distribution in mud-rich samples (Folk, 1968; McCave and Syvitski, 1991; Lewis and McConchie, 1994; Loizeau et al., 1994; Cramp et al., 1997; Konert and Vandenberghe, 1997).

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