Measuring the isotopic composition of trace elements in zircon:\n application to radiogenic molybdenum Article Swipe
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· 2018
· Open Access
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· DOI: https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1806.09019
· OA: W4298857863
Techniques have been developed to measure the isotopic composition of trace\nelements from matrices predominantly consisting of interfering isotopes. These\ntechniques have been applied to measuring mass-independent fractionation of\nmolybdenum in ancient zircon samples due to nuclear decays. Improvements to the\ndigestion of large zircon samples and the ion exchange chemistry required to\nseparate trace molybdenum from zirconium silicate are presented. The efficacy\nof TEVA ion exchange resin as a replacement for anion resin to improve\nseparation efficiency and chemistry blank was studied. An algorithm was\nestablished to improve background, interference and mass bias corrections for\nthe data analysis of Mo by multi-collector inductively coupled plasma mass\nspectrometry (MC-ICPMS). This enabled the isotopic composition measurement of\n$<$50 ng of Mo recovered from 500 mg ZrSiO$_4$ by reducing the Zr content by\n$>$9 orders of magnitude while retaining 63% of the Mo. With 5 ng of Zr still\nremaining, novel data analysis techniques enabled $<$0.1 permil precision on\neach Mo isotope. The relevance of this technique to extracting other atomic\nspecies is also discussed.\n
