Angela - Dry Sediment Sample

Sample Area 1

I've been waiting for Deltona to dry up but it just keeps on raining, so this morning I retrieved two moist samples from two corners of my yard. Corner 1, like the majority of my yard, is fully exposed to sun, but unlike the rest of my yard it doesn't seem to want to grow anything no matter how often I throw grass seeds out there. The sample looks a consistent light gray of small particles. 

Sample Area 2

Corner two is a shaded area with 75% coverage of mainly two types of moss-like plants. The area also contained a Crepe Myrtle sapling, probably because there is a Crepe Myrtle growing about seven feet from the area.  Sampling the area was a bit tougher because I kept seeing small worms and what looked like white pill bugs crawling around in the clear measuring cup, which I kept picking out.  The surface sediment of Sample 2 appears to have a similar consistency to Sample 1 but there seems to be a lot of decomposed material in the mix, more than likely from the Camphor tree that is shading this area. 

Moss-type plants and Crepe Myrtle Sapling(on Right)

I spread my samples out on two different aluminum covered trays, and have been baking them since 2:50pm at 225°F (aprox. 105°C), which at first made the whole house smell like old wet gym shoes, but currently, at almost 6pm, the smell has dissipated (or my nostrils have become used to the smell). I'll continue baking the samples until about 9pm and possibly bake them a second time tomorrow afternoon.

 Something I learned because of this sediment sampling exercise is that my samples for my project need to be dry. The sample I collected at Caspersen beach over two weeks ago has been sitting sealed up in the back of my car. My original plan was to collect the majority of samples and then over the course of two to three weeks comb through all of them in the lab and inspect them under a microscope; now I realize I need to let them dry.