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Accurate Measurement of Rare Earth Elements by ICP‐MS after Ion‐Exchange Separation: Application to Ultra‐Depleted Samples
Author(s) -
Ulrich Marc,
Bureau Sarah,
Chauvel Catherine,
Picard Christian
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
geostandards and geoanalytical research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.037
H-Index - 73
eISSN - 1751-908X
pISSN - 1639-4488
DOI - 10.1111/j.1751-908x.2011.00116.x
Subject(s) - rare earth element , chondrite , analytical chemistry (journal) , rare earth , reproducibility , inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry , trace element , mineralogy , quadrupole , chemistry , geology , mass spectrometry , physics , chromatography , meteorite , geochemistry , atomic physics , astronomy
This study reports precise and accurate data for rare earth elements (REE) measured on eight geological reference materials, five enriched in REE (BE‐N, BHVO‐2, BR, BR‐24 and RGM‐1) and three very depleted in REE (BIR‐1, UB‐N and DTS‐2). Data were acquired by quadrupole ICP‐MS after isolation of the REE using an ion‐exchange chromatography procedure. All the measured REE abundances were similar within ≈ 5% (10% for the most REE‐depleted sample DTS‐2) to the high‐quality measurements previously published in the literature. We also show that by using an internal Tm spike, the reproducibility of the data was improved to ∼ 1%. Applying this technique to the analysis of ultra‐depleted rock samples (sub ng g −1 ), we show that significant improvements were obtained relative to the routine trace element measurement method. The chondrite‐normalised patterns were smooth instead of displaying irregularities. Although the classical method gives excellent results on REE‐rich samples, we believe that our technique improves the precision and accuracy of measurements for highly REE‐depleted rocks.