(LA,Q)-ICPMS trace-element analyses of Durango and McClure Mountain apatite and implications for making natural LA-ICPMS mineral standards

Apatite, the most abundant phosphate mineral in the Earth's crust and uppermost mantle, is able to accept a wide variety of trace elements into its crystal structure. Many of these trace element substitutions are below the detection limit of Electron Microprobe Analysis, but can be determined by laser-ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICPMS). LA-ICPMS elemental abundance determinations typically employ sample-standard bracketing using either standard glasses or an appropriate matrix-matched reference material. In this study we have undertaken laser ablation (>3000 analyses) and low-blank solution Q(quadrupole)-ICPMS trace-element analyses on crushed 150-300 mu m aliquots of Durango and McClure Mountain apatite to assess the accuracy of apatite elemental abundance determinations when using NIST 612 standard glass as the primary LA-ICPMS trace element standard. An accuracy (relative to the solution data) and precision of <5% can be obtained for most trace elements (Y, the REE, Sr, Mn, V, Th and U) in LA-ICPMS analyses of crushed Durango separates; the McClure Mountain data are similarly accurate for most trace elements but yield larger intra-crystal variability. Durango raster and image mapping experiments demonstrate some Durango crystals are more homogenous than others; the raster experiments also show that Durango typically exhibits less zoning parallel to the C-axis compared to perpendicular to the C-axis. A protocol for developing a homogenous Durango apatite trace-element reference material is suggested, and involves slicing the interior portions of several Durango crystals parallel to the C-axis, undertaking rapid LA-ICPMS raster experiments to characterize trace-element zoning, crushing the most homogenous crystal to 150-300 mu m and determining its trace-element contents by low-blank solution ICPMS. This generic approach can easily be modified and applied to characterize other natural LA-ICPMS mineral standards. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.