Figure 4. Sampling sites of blue features. (a) Sample
B5 from cave B. (b) Sample C2 from cave C. (c) Sample
H1 from cave H. (d) Sample H7 from cave H.
3.2 Blue Sample Analysis
Blue features were found to have prominent copper enrichments with our
portable XRF while sampling them. We thus grouped these into one study
and analyzed them further with 16S rRNA gene sequencing methods, Raman
spectroscopy, and SEM/EDS in an attempt to understand the cause for such
high concentrations of copper in an environment where it is expected to
be scarce. The analyses performed on each sample can be seen in Table 1.