Comprehensive analysis of soils and rocks by spark-source mass spectrometry

A description is given of the techniques used for the quantitative analysis of rocks and soils by spark-source mass spectrometry with aluminium as the conducting material. Details are given of photographic plate emulsion calibration and evaluation methods together with the interference correction procedures essential before measuring, and finally before applying, the relative sensitivity coefficients used to standardise the analysis. More than 50 elements can be determined and a typical precision of ±10–15% is attained. The techniques are illustrated by application to the analysis of soils, concentrates of acetic acid extracts of soils and US Geological Survey Standard Rocks G-2 and AGV-1.