Preliminary Investigation into the Use of a High Resolution Inductively Coupled Plasma‐Mass Spectrometer with Laser Ablation for Bulk Analysis of Geological Materials Fused with Li2B4O7

Abstract

The paper presents preliminary results of the use of a high resolution double‐focussing, magnetic sector inductively coupled plasma‐mass spectrometer (HR‐ICP‐MS) with ultraviolet laser ablation (LA) for the bulk analysis of geological materials fused with Li2B4O7. Detection limits are based on data from precision measurements of a fused SiO2 sample of high purity, and sensitivity data (cps/μg g‐1) obtained on the Reference Material (RM) Syenite SY‐2. For many trace elements, the detection limits are better than 0.05 μg g‐1 using a sample to flux weight ratio of 1:7.Calibration curves, which are based entirely on RMs, are established for Hf, Ta, Tb, Tm and Lu. They indicate that, even at this early stage in the development of the technique, data accurate to ˜ 25% can be collected. It is concluded that the method may prove to be a valuable supplement to XRF for low level element concentration measurements; it is also very practical, as the same sample discs can be used for both XRF and LA‐ICP‐MS analyses.