Multi-Elemental Analysis of ATHO-G Rhyolitic Glass (MPI-DING Reference Material) by Femtosecond and Nanosecond LA-ICP-MS: Evidence for Significant Heterogeneity of B,V, Zn,Mo, Sn,Sb, Cs,W, Pt and Pb at the Millimetre Scale

This paper reports on the application of variants of LA-ICP-MS – including infrared femtosecond laser ablation (fs-LA) inductively coupled plasma-quadrupole mass spectrometry (ICP-QMS) and nanosecond laser ablation (ns-LA) coupled with single-collector sector-field (SF-) ICP-MS – to the in situ determination of trace elements in different splits of the reference material (RM) ATHO-G (MPI-DING). Analyses of the materials performed by fs- and ns-LA-ICP-MS demonstrated the efficiency of the techniques with typical accuracy at a level of ≤ ± 20%. One ‘anomalous’ split, however, displayed a significant discrepancy from the reference concentrations for B, V, Zn, Mo, Sn, Sb, Cs, W and Pb. Three- to six-fold enrichment of V, Mo, Cs and Pt relative to the reference contents in this split is likely to have been due to direct contact of the silicate melt with Pt crucible walls and ceramics. Boron, Zn, Sn, Sb, W and Pb depletion relative to the reference concentrations is probably due to siderophile element adsorption by the Pt walls and/or related to the formation of volatile-depleted compositional cords during the preparation process. Our results imply that additional precautions should be taken against volatile/siderophile element heterogeneity in marginal/surface layers (≤ 10 mm) during the preparation of RMs by the fusion technique.