Analysis of High Density Regional Geochemical Soil Samples at the Council for Geoscience (South Africa): The Importance of Quality Control Measures

The Council for Geoscience (CGS, South Africa) has a statutory mandate to carry out regional geochemical mapping in South Africa that needs to be rapidly and accurately analysed. Both simultaneous X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (S-XRF) and a newly developed method using inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) were employed. Various trace elements that could not previously be analysed by S-XRF can now be analysed by ICP-MS for the regional geochemical mapping programme, e.g., Cd, Mo, Te and Li. Using both techniques, the CGS aims to report element distributions for some fifty elements. To ensure that element concentration levels correlate over map boundaries, quality control measures in the sampling, sample preparation and analyses were of critical importance. This paper aims to discuss the sample preparation and quality control measures as applied to the ∼5500 samples of the Giyani and Tzaneen 1:100000 scale map sheets sampled at a density of one soil sample per km². ICP-MS batch- and instrumental drift-correction procedures will be discussed. As a final step, geochemical data were overlain over simplified geological maps using geographical information system software. These maps complement existing geological information of South Africa, help in the identification of exploration targets, test exploration models and initiate further geological research.