KIOWA ENVIRONMENTAL CHEMISTRY
LABORATORY

Mountain Research Station & Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research

University of Colorado at Boulder

     Kiowa Laboratory is the environmental chemistry laboratory for the Niwot Ridge/Green Lakes Valley Long-Term Ecological Research Program.  The laboratory is located between Nederland and Ward, Colorado, at the University of Colorado's Mountain Research Station.  Air, snow, water and soil samples from alpine and subalpine ecosystems are analyzed for major solutes and nutrients.

Personnel

Analytical Tests

A) Water Samples

    • Calcium (Ca2+), Magnesium (Mg2+), Sodium (Na+), Potassium (K+), Manganese (Mn), Ammonium (NH4+)
    • Chloride (Cl-), Nitrate (NO3-), Nitrite (NO2-), Sulfate (SO42-), ortho-Phosphate (PO43-)
    • Silica (Si)
    • pH, Conductivity, Acid Neutralization Capacity (ANC), Acidity
    • Total Nitrogen, Total Dissolved Nitrogen
    • Total Phosphorus, Total Dissolved Phosphorus
    • Non-purgable Organic Carbon

B) Soil Samples

    • 2N KCl extractable Ammonium (NH4+) and Nitrate +Nitrite (NO3- + NO2-)
    • Microbial Biomass

C) Atmospheric Nitrogen Samples

    • Nitric Acid (HNO3-)
    • Particulate Nitrate (pNO3-)
    • Particulate Ammonium (pNH4+)
    • Ammonia (NH3)

D) Fluorescence Services

o   More information

 

Equipment

  • Metrohm 761 Compact Ion Chromatography
  • Lachat QuikChem 8000 Spectrophotometric Flow Injection Analyzer
  • OI Analytical Flow Solution IV Spectrophotometric Analyzer
  • Perkin Elmer AAnalyst 100 Atomic Absorption Spectrometer
  • Accumet AR10 pH Meter 
  • Mettler Toledo SevenEasy Conductivity Meter
  • Shimadzu TOC-5050A Total Organic Carbon Analyzer

Test/Solute Detection Limits and Precision

Test/Solute

Equipment

Detection Limit

Within Run Precision

Calcium (Ca2+)

Perkin Elmer AAnalyst 100

0.26 uEQ/L

0.39 % RSD

Magnesium (Mg2+)

Perkin Elmer AAnalyst 100

0.04 uEQ/L

0.37 % RSD

Sodium (Na+)

Perkin Elmer AAnalyst 100

0.07 uEQ/L

0.81 % RSD

Potassium (K+)

Perkin Elmer AAnalyst 100

0.04 uEQ/L

0.54 % RSD

Manganese (Mn)

Perkin Elmer AAnalyst 100

0.41 uEQ/L

3.12 % RSD

Ammonium (NH4+)

OI Analytical FS-IV

0.13 uEQ/L

0.55 % RSD

Silica

OI Analytical FS-IV

0.23 uEQ/L

1.03 % RSD

Chloride (Cl-)

Metrohm 761 Compact IC

0.14 uEQ/L

1.98 % RSD

Nitrate (NO3-)

Metrohm 761 Compact IC

0.02 uEQ/L

0.81 % RSD

Sulfate (SO42-)

Metrohm 761 Compact IC

0.04 uEQ/L

0.85 % RSD

Nitrite (NO2-)

OI Analytical FS-IV

0.05 uEQ/L

0.60 % RSD

Nitrate+Nitrite (NO3-+NO2-)

OI Analytical FS-IV

0.04 uEQ/L

0.61 % RSD

Total Nitrogen

OI Analytical FS-IV

0.45 uEQ/L

1.39 % RSD

ortho-Phosphate (PO43-)

Lachat QC 8000 FIA

0.11 uEQ/L

1.03 % RSD

Total Phosphorus

Lachat QC 8000 FIA

0.04 uEQ/L

1.51 % RSD

Annual Statistics

Year

Number of Samples Submitted

Number of Tests Analyzed

2006

4,106

26,696

2005

3,193

23,809

2004

5,687

25,153

2003

5,568

22,659

2002

4,890

17,906

2001

6,069

19,533

2000

4,409

19,008

1999

4,713

24,822

1998

3,931

19,349

1997

4,032

19,496

1996

4,720

24,441

Test/Solute Detection Limits and Precision Table Revision: 26 April 2007 by Chris Seibold

Annual Statistics Table Revision: 10 May 2007 by Chris Seibold

Web Page Revision: 26 April 2007 by Chris Seibold

KIOWA ENVIRONMENTAL CHEMISTRY LABORATORY Procedure Manual