Determination of Scandium, Yttrium and Rare Earth Elements in Rocks by High Resolution Inductively Coupled Plasma‐Mass Spectrometry

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The high sensitivity, minimal oxide formation and single internal standard capability of high resolution inductively coupled plasma‐mass spectrometry (HR‐ICP‐MS) is demonstrated in the direct determination of Sc, Y and REE in the international reference materials: basalts (BCR‐1, BHVO‐1, BIR‐1, DNC‐1), andesite (AGV‐1) andultramafics (UB‐N, PCC‐1 and DTS‐1). Time consuming ion exchange separation or preconcentration were found to be unnecessary. Smooth chondrite normalized plots of the REE in PCC‐1 and DTS‐1 were obtained in the range 0.8‐50 ng g‐1 (0.01‐0.1x chondrite). Method precision was found to be digestion dependent with an average external repeatability of 2‐4% for the basalts, AGV‐1 and UB‐N, and 10% for PCC‐1 and DTS‐1. The mass peak due to 45Sc was completely resolved from 29Si16O and 28Si16O1H spectral interferences using medium resolution, which casts doubt on the accuracy of Sc determinations using quadrupole ICP‐MS. Literature values for Y in rock reference materials were found to be approximately 9% high after HR‐ICP‐MS and XRF analysis.

This publication has 43 references indexed in Scilit: