Determination of macroelements in Baikal water using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry in combination with the gravim etric method of single and multielement standard additions can be efficient ly used for the quantitative multielement analysis of Baikal water. Recomme ndations for the calculation of the concentrations of additions from the da ta of preliminarily semiquantitative analysis by mass spectrometry were giv en. The conditions of instrumental analysis and specific methodological fea tures of procedures, namely, the introduction of standard additions by the gravimetric method; the use of elements present in the test sample and work ing gas or ions that form in the plasma as internal standards; and the acco unt of interferences using correlation equations, were considered. The use of multielement standard additions instead of single-element additions in t he analysis of water improves the economic characteristics of the analysis without deteriorating its performance.