Determination of Trace Elements in Twenty Six Chinese Geochemistry Reference Materials by Inductively Coupled Plasma‐Mass Spectrometry

We report new data for thirty seven elements determined in twenty six Chinese geochemistry reference materials using inductively coupled plasma‐mass spectrometry and a reliable and simple dissolution technique. One hundred milligrams of sample were digested with 1 ml of HF and 0.5 ml of HNO 3 in PTFE‐lined stainless steel bombs heated to 200 °C for 12 hours. Insoluble residues were dissolved using 6 ml of 40% v/v HNO 3 heated to 140 C for 3 hours. Analytical calibration was accomplished using aqueous standard solutions. Rhodium was used as an internal standard to correct for matrix effects and instrument drift. Precisions were typically better than 5% RSD. Most of the data presented here agree well with the published certified values. For the elements Zr, Hf and most other trace elements, the measured values were less than 10% in error when compared to certified values.