Low-level analysis of lanthanides in eleven silicate rock reference materials by ICP-MS after group separation using cation-exchange chromotography

A simple method is described for the determination of lanthanides in depleted rocks based on acid dissolution, cation-exchange chromatography and ICP-MS analysis using a low flow, microconcentric nebuliser. The potential of the method is evaluated by analysis in triplicate of eleven low-concentration level geochemical reference materials (UB-N, NIM-D, BIR-1, DNC-1, JB-2, JGb-1, JGb-2, NIM-N, NIM-P, FK-N and MA-N). The repeatability of the three dissolutions is between 0.2% and 0.6% relative standard deviation (RSD) for basaltic samples BIR-1 and JB-2, with the exception of La in BIR-1 (2.6% RSD), presumably because of blank or memory effects. The results are more scattered for coarse-grained rocks. A good agreement between the results and working values is observed for most mafic samples and the serpentinite UB-N. Significant deviations observed between the data obtained in this work and working values for some reference materials might reflect heterogeneities of the REE distributions in coarse-grained (especially granitic) rocks at the 100 mg sub-sampling scale.