Thank you for the tip, Pat.
After analyzing all the responses, we plan to do just about the same as
you.  Thanks again.

Sincerely,

Harry Rowe
Geological and Environmental Sciences
Stanford University


At 10:44 AM 8/28/98 -0500, you wrote:
>We have been running organic carbon on Lake Michigan and Green Bay
>sediments by acidifying the weighed sample in tin boats using 3N H3PO4,
>the sample is then desicated over night and run the next day. The H3PO4
>does not immediatly react with the tin but if they sit more than over
>night the boats become brittle and cannot be holded up. The idea is that
>H3PO4 will not react with the labile carbon as HCl does. We have not
>tested this against another method to see if there are differences.
>
>Pat Anderson
>Great Lakes WATER Institute
>University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
>
>