Towards a protocol for the trace element analysis of glass from rhyolitic shards in tephra deposits by laser ablation ICP‐MS

Abstract

Laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) is used widely to analyse single volcanic glass shards from Quaternary tephra deposits for stratigraphic correlation. As yet, no generally accepted protocol for these analyses exists and published methods report significant differences in crater size and calibration strategies. Using Ca as the internal standard' (Ca-I.S.), and not Si-I.S., for the analysis of rhyolitic glass can cause significant problems, because of ablation of (i) Ca-rich phenocrysts, notably ubiquitous' plagioclase, but also calcic-amphibole, apatite and allanite or (ii) mounting epoxy resin which can contribute to the Ca internal standard signal. Using Ca-I.S. can cause underreporting of many elements which concentrate in Ca-rich phenocrysts, making their ablation difficult to recognize, but when using Si-I.S., no such underreporting occurs. Additionally, larger ablation craters (50 mu m diameter) potentially incorporate even small volumes of phenocryst material, whereas smaller craters (Peer reviewe

First identification and characterization of Borrobol‐type tephra in the Greenland ice cores: new deposits and improved age estimates

“…Full details of these methods as well as LA‐ICP‐MS operating conditions are given in Pearce et al . () and Pearce () and trace element concentrations are provided in Table S2.…”

Identification of Lower Pleistocene widespread tephras associated with large caldera‐forming eruptions in the Tohoku area, north‐east Japan

“…Both laser‐ablation inductively coupled‐plasma mass spectrometry (LA‐ICP‐MS) and electron probe microanalysis (EPMA) by scanning electron microscopy with energy‐dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy (SEM‐EDS) provide the advantage of analysing individual glass shards without the unfavourable incorporation of coexisting mineral grains. Moreover, LA‐ICP‐MS provides an efficient, accurate and suitably precise method for determining the abundances of a wide variety of trace elements, including rare‐earth elements (REEs) at low concentrations in individual glass shards (Pearce, ; Lowe et al ., ). In addition, femtosecond LA‐ICP‐MS, used in the present study, has the additional advantage of being able to obtain major element as well as trace element data together for glass (Maruyama et al ., ).…”

Quantitative Analysis of Trace Elements in Silicate Glass Sample by LA-ICP-QMS/QMS with an ORC: Silicon as the Matrix of Calibrating Solutions and the Internal Standard for Measurement

“…In most research, matrix-matched standards were required for quantitating purpose, based on external calibration, [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] response coefficient factor, 15 or sum-normalization approach. [16][17][18] In recent years, in order to overcome the limitation of the availability of solid calibration standards, "solid-liquid" calibration strategies, i.e.…”

“…Silicon is one of the major components in silicate glass samples and is a potential internal standard element for quantitative analysis of a glass sample. 7,9,10,[12][13][14]16,18 However, attention should be paid to spectral interferences for the analysis of silicon isotopes, because the stable isotopes of silicon, 28 Si + , 29 Si + , and 30 Si + suffer spectral interferences from 14 N2 + , 14 N2 1 H + (and 14 N 15 N + ), and 14 N 16 O + , respectively. In recent years, tandem quadrupole ICP-MS (i.e.…”

“…Instead of matrix-matched solid standards often reported, [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18] matrix-matched solution standards were prepared and used for quantitation in the present experiment. Moreover, instead of transferring the standard solution mists to dried aerosols, [19][20][21] the sample aerosols were transferred to wet condition by continuously introducing a blank solution during the analysis of the sample.…”