Goldschmidt Abstracts 2010 – F

We report on two novel procedures for the determination of several trace elements in seawater, including elements characterized by very low abundance (sub-0.1 to 1 ng l-1) in the ocean, such as REEs, Hf, and Th. Our methods are based on the procedure developed recently by Bayon et al. [1], and applied successfully to a wide range of geological samples. It involves addition of a Tm spike and pre-concentration using co-precipitation, prior to analysis by inductively coupled plasma-sector field mass spectrometry (ICP-SFMS). The addition of a small amount of Tm to the sample produces a positive Tm anomaly in the resulting REE pattern, which allows calculation of precise trace element concentrat…