MULTIELEMENT ANALYSIS OF BASALTIC ROCK USING SPARK SOURCE MASS SPECTROMETRY

Spark source mass spectrography has been used for the multielement analysis of the U. S. Geological Survey standard basalt BCR-1. U. S. Geological Survey standard diabase W-l was used as a multielement concentration standard to obtain sensitivity factors. It has been possible to determine 60 elements using graphite and silver blended rock mixtures as electrodes at several magnet settings and exposure sequences. When the analysis is compared with those of other investigators, including a neutron activation analysis performed on a sample of BCR-1 from the same bottle, agreement is found to be good. © 1969, American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.