The Application for the Determination of 59 Elements in the Water Extraction using High Resolution Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry

Abstract

The measurement for the metal active state is one of the current methods in deep-penetrating geochemistry for searching buried ores. There are much applied research concerning metal active state, but less on the extraction of active states and phase analysis (such as the water extraction phase). Traditional atomic absorption spectrometry can only be used to determine one element at a time, while only 5 elements (Cr, Cu, Zn, Cd and Pb) in the water extraction phase can be simultaneously measured by Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS). However, either method can meet the demands of metal active state measurements for current geochemical exploration. A method for the determination of 59 elements in the water extraction phase has been established by using High Resolution Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (HR-ICP-MS). Moreover, the optimum extraction conditions to determine these elements in the water extraction phase by experiment are: extraction time is 24 h at extraction temperature of 35℃ with liquid-solid ratio of 15:1. Solid-liquid phases were separated by centrifugation. The precision (RSD, n=12) is 3.11%-38.1%, of which more than 20% RSD data accounted for only 28.4% of all test results, indicating that the method is accurate and reliable, and the detection limit of this method can meet the analytical requirements of elemental active state. The method of determination of the water extraction phase elements by using HR-ICP-MS not only increases the number of target elements, but also reduces the detection limit and improves the precision, which can provide more comprehensive data for exploration geochemistry.

Keywords

• elements active state
• water extraction phase
• high resolution inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry