Journal article
Measurements of natural uranium concentration and isotopic composition with permil-level precision by inductively coupled plasma-quadrupole mass spectrometry
Geochemistry, geophysics, geosystems : G3, Vol.7(9), pp.Q09005-n/a
09/20/2006
DOI: 10.1029/2006GC001303
Abstract
A new analytical technique using inductively coupled plasma-quadrupole mass spectrometry (ICP-QMS) has been developed that produces permil-level precision in the measurement of uranium concentration ([U]) and isotopic composition (delta (super 234) U) in natural materials. A (super 233) U- (super 236) U double spike method was used to correct for mass fractionation during analysis. To correct for ratio drifting, samples were bracketed by uranium standard measurements. A sensitivity of 6-7X10 (super 8) cps/ppm was generated with a sample solution uptake rate of 30 mu L/min. With a measurement time of 15-20 min, standards of 30-ng uranium produced a within-run precision better than 3% (+ or -2 R.S.D.) for delta (super 234) U and better than 2% for [U]. Replicate measurements made on standards show that a between-run reproducibility of 3.5% for delta (super 234) U and 2% for [U] can be achieved. ICP-QMS data of delta (super 234) U and [U] in seawater, coral, and speleothem materials are consistent with the data measured by other ICP-MS and TIMS techniques. Advantages of the ICP-QMS method include low cost, easy maintenance, simple instrumental operation, and few sample preparation steps. Sample size requirements are small, such as 10-14 mg of coral material. The results demonstrate that this technique can be applied to natural samples with various matrices.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Measurements of natural uranium concentration and isotopic composition with permil-level precision by inductively coupled plasma-quadrupole mass spectrometry
- Creators
- Chuan-Chou Shen - National Taiwan UniversityHuei-Ting Lin - National Taiwan Normal UniversityMei-Fei Chu - National Taiwan UniversityEin-Fen Yu - National Taiwan Normal UniversityXianfeng Wang - University of MinnesotaJeffrey A Dorale - University of Iowa
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Geochemistry, geophysics, geosystems : G3, Vol.7(9), pp.Q09005-n/a
- Publisher
- American Geophysical Union and The Geochemical Society
- DOI
- 10.1029/2006GC001303
- ISSN
- 1525-2027
- eISSN
- 1525-2027
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 09/20/2006
- Academic Unit
- Earth and Environmental Sciences
- Record Identifier
- 9984229171602771
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