We present high resolution spectroscopic observations of two neighbouring damped Lyman \alpha systems ( DLAs ) along the same line of sight towards B2314 - 409 .
Due to their separation ( v \sim 2000 km s ^ { -1 } ) and the high spectral resolution of the data , it is possible to fit not only the weak metal transitions , but also the separate H I absorption profiles .
This has permitted , for the first time , a detailed study of metal abundances in two neighbouring galaxy-scale absorbers .
The two DLAs have z _ { abs } = 1.8573 and 1.8745 and have column densities \log N ( H I ) = 20.9 \pm 0.1 and 20.1 \pm 0.2 respectively .
We have determined abundances for a range of chemical elements , and find that both absorbers towards B2314 - 409 have low \alpha /Fe-peak abundances compared with other known DLAs .
This indicates that not only has the recent star formation history of these absorbers been relatively passive , but that the group environment , or some other external factor , may have influenced this .