An analytical artefact is reported here related to differences in instrumental mass fractionation between NIST SRM glasses and natural geological glasses during SIMS boron isotope determinations. The data presented demonstrated an average 3.4 difference between the NIST glasses and natural basaltic to rhyolitic glasses mainly in terms of their sputtering-induced fractionation of boron isotopes. As no matrix effect was found among basaltic to rhyolitic glasses, instrumental mass fractionation of most natural glass samples can be corrected by using appropriate glass reference materials. In order to confirm the existence of the compositionally induced variations in boron SIMS instrumental mass bias, the observed offset in SIMS instrumental mass bias has been independently reproduced in two laboratories and the phenomenon has been found to be stable over a period of more than one year. This study highlights the need for a close match between the chemical composition of the reference material and the samples being investigated.
Nous montrons l'existence d'un artefact analytique reliéà différents fractionnements de masse instrumentaux, observés sur les verres NIST SRM et des verres naturels durant des mesures des isotopes de bore par SIMS. Les données montrent une différence d'environ 3.4 entre les verres NIST et les verres naturels, de composition variant de basaltique à rhyolitique, en termes de fractionnement des isotopes du bore principalement induit par le phénomène de dispersion. Comme aucun effet de matrice n'a été observé entre les verres basaltiques et les verres rhyolitiques, le fractionnement de masse instrumental de la plupart des verres naturels peut être corrigé en utilisant des verres de références appropriés. Dans le but de confirmer l'existence de biais de masse liéà la composition lors de mesure du bore par SIMS, nous avons reproduit indépendamment le décalage observé entre deux laboratoires et ce phénomène s'est révélé stable sur une période de plus d'un an. Cette étude met en lumière le besoin d'ajuster précisément les compositions chimiques des matériaux de référence et des échantillons à analyser.
In situ secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) analyses of δ7Li, Li/Ca, and Mg/Ca were performed on five synthetic aragonite samples precipitated from seawater at 25°C at different rates. The compositions of δ7Li in bulk aragonites and experimental fluids were measured by multicollector inductively coupled plasmamass spectrometry (MC-ICP-MS). Both techniques yielded similar δ7Li in aragonite when SIMS analyses were corrected to calcium carbonate reference materials. Fractionation factors α7Li/6Li range from 0.9895 to 0.9923, which translates to a fractionation between aragonite and fluid from -10.5‰ to -7.7‰. The within-sample δ7Li range determined by SIMS is up to 27‰, exceeding the difference between bulk δ7Li analyses of different aragonite precipitates. Moreover, the centers of aragonite hemispherical bundles (spherulites) are enriched in Li/Ca and Mg/Ca relative to spherulite fibers by up to factors of 2 and 8, respectively. The Li/Ca and Mg/Ca ratios of spherulite fibers increase with aragonite precipitation rate. These results suggest that precipitation rate is a potentially important consideration when using Li isotopes and elemental ratios in natural carbonates as a proxy for seawater composition and temperature.