Sawed samples present the ideal case of a perfectly smooth sample for presentation to the instrument window. However, this amount of sample preparation is not possible in a field setting. It is therefore important to understand the implications of varying surface roughness on data quality. In order to illustrate this effect, we show data collected from the laboratory XRF as well as data we collected using the hXRF, but the hXRF data are shown in two groupings: for surfaces that are sawed, and for rough surfaces (though all data was collected on fresh surfaces with no weathering or alteration products) (Fig. 3aee).