Rapid Evaluation of Zircon Texture and Geochemistry Using Femtosecond Laser Ablation ICP–TOFMS Elemental Imaging

Linking zircon textures with their trace-elemental compositions is essential for constraining growth processes and reconstructing complex magmatic histories, but systematic multi-element imaging has been hampered by the time required by conventional analytical methods. Here we evaluate femtosecond laser ablation inductively coupled plasma time-of-flight mass spectrometry (fs-LA − ICP − TOFMS) as a rapid approach for zircon elemental imaging. An area of 900 µm × 600 µm can be mapped in ∼10 min, producing comprehensive multi-element images at 3 µm effective spatial resolution. Elemental distributions of 28 elements, including the full suite of rare earth elements (REEs), can be acquired simultaneously with subppm limits of detection. The resulting maps of three widely used zircon reference materials (Penglai, Plešovice, SA01) reveal distinct distribution patterns consistent with different formation histories. Overall, fs-LA − ICP − TOFMS combines high sensitivity, rapid mapping, and micrometer-scale resolution, providing an efficient tool for multi-element imaging of zircon and other minerals.