Abstract
This new comprehensive in situ mineral-chemical characterisation of the Happy Jack uraninite has discovered additional information regarding matrix effects and trace element homogeneity, relevant to proposals that it could serve as a reference material (RM). On the LA-ICP-MS instrumentation used, there was an absence of discernible matrix effects relative to the silicate glass NIST SRM 610. Lanthanides and Y are found to be very homogeneously distributed in Happy Jack uraninite, Zr, Nb and Ti mass fractions reproducible but only within individual fragments, and other elements still generally heterogeneous. This means that the Happy Jack uraninite can serve as a secondary RM for quality control in studies of natural uraninites. In terms of absolute accuracy and intermediate measurement precision, the Happy Jack uraninite can be used for the homogeneous elements. For elements that are homogeneous within individual fragments only, intermediate measurement precision can still be evaluated, while information values will be obtained for the generally heterogeneous elements. Two distinct groups (high vs. low Zr) were distinguished to exist among different Happy Jack fragments in association with minor variation of REE mass fractions, which possibly explains the observed (heavy) REE discrepancy between in situ laser ablation and bulk solution ICP-MS analyses.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 735-749 |
| Number of pages | 15 |
| Journal | Geostandards and Geoanalytical Research |
| Volume | 46 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| Early online date | 2 Sept 2022 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Dec 2022 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2022 The Authors. Geostandards and Geoanalytical Research published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of the International Association of Geoanalysts.
Funding
This research was funded by Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) Grant Number 21/PATH‐S/9601, National Key Research and Development Program of China (2021YFC2900300) and Geological Survey Ireland (grant no. 2019‐PD‐90622_Zhou). We would like to thank Patrick Wyse Jackson, the curator of Geological Museum, Trinity College Dublin, for kindly providing the Rum Jungle uraninite sample for this study. The authors are also grateful for the constructive comments from reviewer 1 and the manuscript handling editor (Thomas Zack), which helped to improve the quality of this manuscript substantially. Zhou L.L. would like to thank Foteini Drakou for help with part of the data processing and the journal managing editor Edward Williams for his time dealing with the manuscript. Corinne Dorais and Loretta Corcoran are also thanked for kindly donating the Happy Jack fragment to our study and subsequent communications on the origin of used materials. Open access funding provided by IReL.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| Geological Museum | |
| Patrick Wyse Jackson | |
| Science Foundation Ireland | 21/PATH‐S/9601 |
| Science Foundation Ireland | |
| Trinity College Dublin | |
| Geological Survey of Ireland | 2019‐PD‐90622_Zhou |
| Geological Survey of Ireland | |
| National Key Research and Development Program of China | 2021YFC2900300 |
| National Key Research and Development Program of China |
Keywords
- LA-ICP-MS
- REE
- reference material
- reference material development
- uraninite