Determination of rare earth elements in geological materials by total reflection x-ray fluorescence

✍ Scribed by L. Muia; R. Van Grieken

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1991
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 442 KB
• Volume: 251
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0003-2670
• DOI: 10.1016/0003-2670(91)87132-q

✦ Synopsis

The use of a basic total reflection x-ray fluorescence (TXRF) unit coupled to a fine structure MO x-ray tube for the determination of rare earth elements (REEs) in geological materials was investigated. Three certified reference rock materials, viz. shale Awl-l, psammite PRI-1 and schist SBO-1, were analysed using a combination of mineral acid digestion and TXRF. In general, recoveries of better than 80% were obtained for most of the elements and detection limits of the order of about 0.1 pg g-' were obtained for the REEs from Ce to Nd with relative standard deviations (R.S.D.) in the range 6-20%. For the elements analysed using the K emission lines, the R.S.D. of the measurements ranged from 3 to 20X, with a mean value of 12% for the elements from K to Y. The R.S.D. of the measurements using this method were in general less than 15% for most of the elements considered.

By analysing rare earth-bearing rocks from Mrima Hill in Kenya, satisfactory agreement between the experimental values and those available in the literature for the total rare element oxide content was obtained.