Determination of 11 major and minor elements in chondritic meteorites by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

We have developed a new method for the quantification of 11 major and minor elements (Na, Mg, Al, P, S, K, Ca, Cr, Mn, Fe, and Ni) in chondritic meteorites by ICPMS using external calibration with a matrix-matched standard prepared from the Allende Standard Reference Meteorite. We have demonstrated the method's accuracy and assessed three different measures of precision by performing replicate dissolutions and analyses of 0.10-g samples of a homogenized samples of the CM2 meteorite Murchison and compared our results to literature values. We subsequently applied this method to the analysis of a set of four chondritic meteorites possessing a relatively wide range of chondritic compositions with results in accord with previously published values. Because our method is designed to use the same instrumentation and can use samples and standards prepared according to methods previously validated for the determination of a comprehensive suite of minor, trace, moderately and highly volatile trace elements (i.e., Li, Sc, Ti, V, Mn, Co, Cu, Zn, Ga, As, Se, Rb, Sr, Y, Zr, Nb, Mo, Ru, Pd, Ag, Cd, In, Sn, Sb, Te, Cs, Ba, all 14 naturally occurring lanthanoids, Hf, W, Re, Ir, Pt, Tl, Bi, Th, and U) it complements these methods and allows a single laboratory to determine the concentrations of 60 elements in semimicroscopic amounts of chondritic material.