[coccoliths] Slide preparation in diatom-rich sediment

[John Sarao]

Good day all,
  I'm working with sediment from the Guaymas Basin, Gulf of California and
have run into a problem I'd like help in tackling. The sediment has low
carbonate content and comparatively high silica content. To make slides
that have enough coccoliths per field of view to do effective counts, the
slides become flooded with diatoms. The sheer quantity of diatoms in the
FOV makes it hard to accurately and confidently identify each coccolith I
observe. I've tried a simple density settling technique to try and separate
the coccoliths from the diatoms, but had no luck. Have any of you worked
with diatom-rich, coccolith-poor sediment and have any tricks of the trade
in dealing with removing diatoms?  Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you,
  John Sarao
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