Quantitative approaches to the determination of elements in lake sediments by total reflection X-ray fluorescence

Quantitative approaches to the determination of elements in lake sediments by total reflection X-ray fluorescence

Element distribution data in lake sediments are widely used to study environmental and climate change over geological time scales. Total reflection X-ray fluorescence (TXRF) seems to be well suited for fast multi-elemental analysis of small quantities of subsamples obtained by cutting a sediment cor...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Microchemical journal Vol. 143; pp. 264 - 271
Main Authors: Pashkova, Galina V., Aisueva, Tatyana S., Finkelshtein, Alexandr L., Cherkashina, Tatyana Yu, Shchetnikov, Alexandr A.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier B.V 01-12-2018
Subjects:
Compton peak
Internal standard
Sediments
Suspension
TXRF
Suspension
Sediments
Internal standard
Compton peak
TXRF
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Summary:Element distribution data in lake sediments are widely used to study environmental and climate change over geological time scales. Total reflection X-ray fluorescence (TXRF) seems to be well suited for fast multi-elemental analysis of small quantities of subsamples obtained by cutting a sediment core at different intervals. The TXRF technique based on the direct analysis of a suspension prepared by mixing 20 mg of powdered sample and 2 mL of an aqueous 1% Triton X-100 solution was applied to the various reference materials of sedimentary rocks and samples of lake sediments to determine Al, K, Ca, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, Rb, Sr, and Ba contents. It was shown that the element internal standard, as well the Compton scattered peak, can be used to compensate the error associated with the sample deposition process. Different quantitative approaches have been proposed and evaluated using the reference materials of the sedimentary rocks: (i) internal standardization, (ii) external calibration with correction by means of adding an internal standard, (iii) external calibration with the ‘fluorescent-to-Compton’ correction. It was shown that the external calibrations can compensate systematic overestimation or underestimation of the TXRF results obtained using the internal standard method, especially for Al, K, V, Cr, Zn, Rb, and Ba. The TXRF results for Ca, Ti, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, and Sr weakly depend on the quantitative procedure. •TXRF technique was applied using 20 mg of sediment sample.•Depositional repeatability was assessed.•The ‘fluorescent-to-Compton’ correction was used.•Discussion of quantitative approaches is presented.•External calibration methods were compared to the internal standard method.
ISSN:0026-265X
1095-9149
DOI:10.1016/j.microc.2018.08.020