The XRF beamline at the VEPP-3 (Budker INP, Novosibirsk, Russia) storage ri
ng was modified for the performance of scanning analysis. A description and
parameters of this facility are presented in the Current paper. The initia
l results of testing of scanning analysis of bottom sediments from Lake Bai
kal are also presented, A spatial resolution of the scanning analysis is 0.
1-1 mm which corresponds to 2-50 years of resolution. Such a scanning analy
sis of lake sediments provides high quality data as a requirement for paleo
climate reconstructions. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved
.