High‐Precision Measurement of Molybdenum Isotopic Compositions of Selected Geochemical Reference Materials

Abstract

Here we describe high‐precision molybdenum isotopic composition measurements of geological reference materials, performed using multi‐collector inductively coupled plasma‐mass spectrometry (MC‐ICP‐MS). Purification of Mo for isotopic measurements was achieved by ion exchange chromatography using Bio‐Rad AG® 1‐X8 anion exchange resin. Instrumental mass bias was corrected using 100Mo‐97Mo double spiking techniques. The precision under intermediate measurement conditions (eighteen measurement sessions over 20 months) in terms of δ98/95Mo was 0.10‰ (2s). The measurement output was approximately four times more efficient than previous techniques, with no compromise in precision. The Mo isotopic compositions of seven geochemical reference materials, seawater (IAPSO), manganese nodules (NOD‐P‐1 and NOD‐A‐1), copper‐molybdenum ore (HV‐2), basalt (BCR‐2) and shale (SGR‐1b and SCo‐1), were measured. δ98/95Mo values were obtained for IAPSO (2.25 ± 0.09‰), NOD‐P‐1 (−0.66 ± 0.05‰), NOD‐A‐1 (−0.48 ± 0.05‰), HV‐2 (−0.23 ± 0.10‰), BCR‐2 (0.21 ± 0.07‰), SCo‐1 (−0.24 ± 0.06‰) and SGR‐1b (0.63 ± 0.02‰) by calculating δ98/95Mo relative to NIST SRM 3134 (0.25‰, 2s). The molybdenum isotopic compositions of IAPSO, NOD‐A‐1 and NOD‐P‐1 obtained in this study are within error of the compositions reported previously. Molybdenum isotopic compositions for BCR‐2, SCo‐1 and SGR‐1b are reported for the first time.