Lead isotopic analysis of Antarctic snow using multi-collector ICP-mass spectrometry

Abstract

Reliable determination of Pb isotope ratios in Antarctic snow is challenging because of the low analyte concentration and the low volume of sample typically available. In this work, a combination of a total sample consumption introduction system (the torch-integrated sample introduction system, TISIS) with multi-collector ICP-mass spectrometry (MC-ICP-MS) was used for this purpose. With this instrumental setup, accurate and precise determination of Pb isotope ratios was possible at concentrations as low as 0.5 ng mL(-1), while using 0.2 mL of solution only (total amount of Pb: 100 pg). At 10 ng mL(-1), the repeatability for the Pb-207/Pb-206 ratio was 0.16 parts per thousand RSD. The concentration range was further extended downwards by using 100-fold analyte element preconcentration via freeze-drying of 20 g of snow. The Pb concentration in procedural blanks was 0.5 +/- 0.3 pg g(-1), enabling the determination of Pb isotope ratios in snow samples containing down to 5 pg g(-1) of Pb. After development and validation, the procedure was applied to snow samples collected at Dome C (East Antarctic Plateau) on a monthly basis during the 2006 and 2010 campaigns. The method developed was able to reveal a seasonal variation in the Pb isotope ratios occurring during 2006 and strong inter-annual variation between the two campaigns

Studies on Isotope Ratio Measurement of Cl by Inductively Coupled Plasma Triple-quad Mass Spectrometry

“…An inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICPMS) has also been more and more involved in isotope ratio measurements, especially for heavy elements such as Fe, Cu, Mo, Cd, Cs, Nd, Hf, W, Tl, Pb, U, and so on. 2,[5][6][7][8][9][10][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][30][31][32][33][34] However, the subjects still remain with respect to the analysis of light elements such as H, C, N, and O as well as Si, S and Cl, that suffer from the huge background signals from H2O, air entrainment (N2, O2, CO2) and Ar plasma gas.…”

“…Isotope ratio measurement of elements is well recognized to be increasingly widespread use in disciplines such as bioavailability studies using stable isotope tracers, [1][2][3][4][5][6] isotope abundance measurements in nuclear chemistry, 6-10 the determination of isotope variations in geological, environmental and cosmic samples including age determinations, 3,4,[11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] food authenticity, 3,4,20 or forensic science. 3,4,21,22 Isotope ratio measurement is also important for the production of accurate analytical results in trace element determinations by isotope dilution mass spectrometry (IDMS).…”

Analysis of whole blood by ICP-MS equipped with a high temperature total sample consumption system

“…28 Up to now, hTISIS has been applied to accurate analysis of a few environmental, biological and clinical reference materials. 27,31,32 Page 4 of 39 Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 5 The goal of the present work was thus to test the suitability of the hTISIS operated at high temperature as a system for the analysis of sample of very complex nature but of great importance, such as blood, through ICP-MS. Relevant parameters such as the hTISIS chamber temperature and sample dilution were optimized for blood reference samples.…”

Comparisons of methods to obtain insoluble particles in snow for transmission electron microscopy

“…Therefore, the FDM has been used to concentrate snow samples, but water in the container was not completely evaporated (Bazzano et al, 2015;Rangel-Alvarado et al, 2015). After the FDM process, these studies further used the DDM to make TEM samples.…”