Laser ablation mass spectrometry blast through detection in R

Area of Science:

• Geochemistry
• Paleoclimatology
• Bioinformatics

Background:

• Organisms with carbonate shells record environmental and biological information through trace element incorporation.
• These geochemical signals serve as archives for reconstructing past climates, deciphering taxonomy, and understanding evolutionary responses.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce the LABLASTER R package for automated data reduction of time-resolved laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) data.
• To improve the accuracy and repeatability of geochemical signal extraction from carbonate bioarchives.

Main Methods:

• Utilized laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) for time-resolved elemental composition analysis.
• Developed the LABLASTER R package to automatically detect when laser ablation has passed through carbonate samples.
• Implemented functions for data reduction, including off-target data removal and signal maximization, with included visualization tools.

Main Results:

• Presented the first R package to automate desired data selection in data reduction workflows for LA-ICP-MS analyses.
• Demonstrated the package's flexibility in handling heterogeneous bioarchives by applying it to a fossil foraminifer and a coral skeleton.
• Automated detection of sample endpoints using smoothed time series analysis.

Conclusions:

• LABLASTER enhances transparency and repeatability in geochemical data analysis by algorithmically identifying sample endpoints.
• The package ensures more accurate extraction of biological and geochemical signals by improving data targeting.
• LABLASTER is applicable to a wide range of bioarchives, aiding paleoclimate and evolutionary research.