Once the concretion sample has been taken from the cave, it is taken to the laboratory, cut lengthwise and polished.
To obtain the information on the past climate which is contained in the various levels of growth of the speleothem, samples are taken using a numerically controlled Micromilling machine, i.e. guided by a computer, which allows sampling exactly in the desired level up to a resolution of 100 µ (i.e. 100 thousandths of a millimetre).
Finally, the isotopic analyzes on the dust obtained allow to obtain detailed sequences of past climatic variations.