Comment on: Mass Fractions of Forty‐Six Major and Trace Elements, Including Rare Earth Elements, in Sediment and Soil Reference Materials Used in Environmental Studies. Fiket et al. (2017), Geostandards and Geoanalytical Research, 41, 123–135

Abstract

This paper is intended to be a constructive discussion of Fiket et al. (2017, Geostandards and Geoanalytical Research, 41, 123–135), who dealt with the determination of major, trace and rare earth elements in several sediment and soil certified reference materials. In the present author's view, the paper by Fiket et al. (2017) suffers from a lack of reference to several publications in which somewhat similar results had already been reported. The present contribution therefore provides a comparison of previously published results with those of Fiket et al. for the CRMs soil NCS DC 77302 (GBW 07410), stream sediment NCS DC 73309 (GBW 07311), marine sediments MESS‐3 and NCS DC 75301 (GBW 07314) and estuarine sediment IAEA‐405. It is argued that this fuller consideration (a) allows critical evaluation of the quality of the results presented by Fiket et al. and (b) highlights the advantages of their work. Finally, attention is drawn to the (possible or real) problems that can arise during simultaneous determination of multiple trace elements.