Improving Strontium Isotope Ratio Analysis Using MC-ICP-MS

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Research article

Journal of the Korean Society for Environmental Analysis 2018;21(4):237-242.

다검출기 유도결합 플라즈마 질량분석기를 이용한 스트론튬 동위원소비 분석법 개선

이신우¹, 박재선¹, 박현우¹, 황종연², 김금희¹, 정현미¹, 최종우¹

¹국립환경과학원
²국립환경연구원

Abstract

Strontium (Sr) commonly exists in rock, groundwater, soil, plants, and animals. The Sr isotope ratio offers important information as a tracer on nature because the Sr isotopic composition is not fractionated by any biological process in these ecosystems. Hence, Sr isotope ratio has been used in several studies on tracing the Sr source for contaminated sites and human migration. In this study, we developed a separation method for Sr content, and then improved Sr isotope analysis using multi-collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (MC-ICP-MS). A powdered rock standard (NIST 2710a) was used to determine the removal of interference elements (Rb and Ca) and the recovery rate of Sr content. The results ranged from 98% to 106%. Additionally, three standard samples (NBS 987, IAPSO and NIST 1486) were analyzed to evaluate the precision and accuracy of the results. The measured 87Sr/86Sr ratio for all the samples were consistent with the reported values, within an error. These results indicate that our established Sr separation and Sr isotope measurement methods are reliable and can hence be useful in the fields of environmental and forensic sciences.

Key Words: Sr separation, Sr isotope ratio analysis, MC-ICP-MS