Towards the development of a fossil bone geochemical standard: An inter-laboratory study

Ten international laboratories participated in an inter-laboratory comparison of a fossil bone composite with the objective of producing a matrix and structure-matched reference material for studies of the bio-mineralization of ancient fossil bone. We report the major and trace element compositions of the fossil bone composite, using in-situ method as well as various wet chemical digestion techniques. For major element concentrations, the intra-laboratory analytical precision (%RSDr) ranges from 7 to 18%, with higher percentages for Ti and K. The %RSDr are smaller than the inter-laboratory analytical precision (%RSDR; 100% was found for the high field strength elements (Hf, Th, Zr, Nb). The…