LA-ICP-MS ANALYSIS OF TRACE ELEMENTS IN SILICATE MINERALS ON ICP-MS NEXION 300S MASS SPECTROMETER WITH NWR 213 ATTACHMENT FOR LASER ABLATION: METHODOLOGICAL ASPECTS

Abstract

Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and laser ablation (LA) are widely used to study the trace element composition of minerals, including silicates; nevertheless, methodological activities in this area aimed at increasing the sensitivity and locality and reducing composition error, remain relevant. The paper describes methodological approaches for studying the trace element composition of a number of silicate minerals using NexION 300S quadrupole ICP-MS with an NWR 213 LA attachment, obtained on standard synthetic glasses NIST SRM 612 and 610, as well as a number of interlaboratory zircon standards Mud Tank, GJ-1, 91500, Plesovice, Temora-2 and clinopyroxene samples 1636 and 1780 from clinopyroxenite of the Nizhniy Tagil massif (Urals). Presented here are the metrological characteristics of the analysis technique (the accuracy in the determination of elements from Li to U) and variations in sensitivity for different elements, obtained with a crater diameter of 13, 20, 25, 50 and 100 microns. The MS sensitivity drift analysis has been performed through an 8-hour analytical session; a comparison has been made between the results obtained and the literature data; a satisfactory agreement of the results has been observed. The analytical errors allow the use of methods for conducting research in solving various geochemical problems.

Keywords

• mass spectrometry
• laser ablation
• trace element analysis
• silicate minerals
• la-icp-ms