Analytical laboratory comparison of major and minor constituents in an active crater lake

The crater lake water from Maly Semiachik volcano in Kamchatka was used for the international analytical laboratory comparison of major and minor elements, and hydrogen, sulfur, and oxygen isotope data. Eight institutions participated in this program, giving analytical results of 9 major and 20 minor elements mainly by using ICP-AES for cations and IC for anions. Among the major elements, Na, Mg and Si showed coefficients of variation (CV) of 10% or more, whereas B, Al, Fe, Mn had coefficients less than 7%. The CV% of the minor elements Co, Cu, P, Cr, Pb was much greater (>30%) while the V analyses agreed well (<10%). Ti, Sr, Zn, and F were intermediate (between 10 and 20 CV%). The errors observed for these constituents are inherent to the methods applied: large dilutions and spectrometric interferences. Even the major anions such as Cl (>2000 ppm) and SO₄ (>5000 ppm) gave considerable ranges (5.1 and 8.8 CV%, respectively) as did the obtained pH values (22 CV%). The measured δ¹⁸O of the water samples and δ³⁴S of sulfate are in excellent agreement but the δD values had CV% of 8. Technical recommendations are presented to improve the analytical results for these elements with significant deviations from the mean values.