PAA Sage

PAA_Research PAA on Sage Brush

Motivation

The volatile oil content of sage brush is known to be a strong indicator of both the flammability of sagebrush as well as its forage value for open range livestock<ref name="Sage1968">File:SageBrushMg-vs-VolOil Powell.pdf </ref>. The volatile oils in sagebrush leaves impede the growth of rumen micro-organisms thereby decreasing an animal's appetite. The amount of Magnesium in sagebrush leaves has been shown to be strongly correlated with the volatile oil content of sagebrush. We studied the potential to use Photon Activation Analysis at the Idaho Accelerator Center as a means to measure the Magnesium content of sagebrush. The figure below illustrates our ability to identify the presence of Magnesium in sagebrush leaves. With further work, this method has the potential to provide ranchers and fire prevention services with a means of monitoring the forage value and fire risk of Idaho's sagebrush population.

Preliminary results

5/23/19

Calibration Detect A

Source	Energy (keV0	Channel
Th Rod	238.8 (highest peak)	548.152
Ba-133	276.398	632.9
Th Rod	338.8 (4th highest)	772.106
Ba-133	356	811.78
Na-22	511	1159.92
Th Rod	583.4 (2nd highest peak)	1322.244
Cs-137	661.7	1497.84
Th Rod	911.2 (3rd highest)	2059.4
Na-22	1274.5	2875.50
Th Rod	2614.6	5886.485

MPA Fit: (-5.74857) + (0.445818)*x + (-2.04348e-7)*x^2

Calibration Detect D

Source	Energy (keV	Channel
Th Rod	238.8 (highest peak)
Ba-133	276.398
Th Rod	338.8 (4th highest)
Ba-133	356	1062.503
Na-22	511	1970.739
Th Rod	583.4 (2nd highest peak)
Cs-137	661.7	2854.3
Th Rod	911.2 (3rd highest)
Na-22	1274.5	6446.418
Th Rod	2614.6

MPA Fit: () + ()*x + ()*x^2

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PAA_Research