QUANTITATIVE-ANALYSIS OF TRACE-ELEMENT ABUNDANCES IN GLASSES AND MINERALS - A COMPARISON OF LASER-ABLATION INDUCTIVELY-COUPLED PLASMA-MASS SPECTROMETRY, SOLUTION INDUCTIVELY-COUPLED PLASMA-MASS SPECTROMETRY, PROTON MICROPROBE AND ELECTRON-MICROPROBE DATA
Md. Norman et al., QUANTITATIVE-ANALYSIS OF TRACE-ELEMENT ABUNDANCES IN GLASSES AND MINERALS - A COMPARISON OF LASER-ABLATION INDUCTIVELY-COUPLED PLASMA-MASS SPECTROMETRY, SOLUTION INDUCTIVELY-COUPLED PLASMA-MASS SPECTROMETRY, PROTON MICROPROBE AND ELECTRON-MICROPROBE DATA, Journal of analytical atomic spectrometry, 13(5), 1998, pp. 477-482
Many geological, environmental and industrial applications can be enha
nced through integrated microbeam and bulk geochemical determinations
of major and trace element concentrations, Advantages of in situ micro
analysis include minimal sample preparation, low blanks, information a
bout the spatial distribution of compositional characteristics and the
ability to avoid microscopic inclusions of foreign material, In this
paper we compare trace element data obtained by laser ablation ICP-MS,
solution ICP-MS, electron microprobe analysis and proton microprobe a
nalysis for a variety of silicate glasses and minerals, New determinat
ions for 36 trace elements in BCR-2G, a microbeam glass standard, are
presented. Results obtained by the various microbeam and solution meth
ods agree well for concentrations ranging over several orders of magni
tude. Replicate analyses of BCR-2G demonstrate an analytical precision
of 2-8% relative (1 sigma) for all elements by laser ablation ICP-MS
and less than or equal to 3% by solution ICP-MS, except for Li (5%), T
hese data emphasize the utility of laser ablation ICP-MS as a quantita
tive microbeam technique capable of rapid, precise determinations of s
ub-ppm trace element abundances in a variety of targets.