Determination of yttrium and rare-earth elements in rocks by graphite-furnace atomic-absorption spectrometry

With use of synthetic solutions and several international standard reference materials a method has been developed for determining traces of Y, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb and Lu in rocks by electrothermal atomization in a pyrolytically-coated graphite furnace. Depending on the element, the sensitivity is of the order of 10-9 to 10-12 g at 25000. To avoid matrix interferences the lanthanides are separated from the common elements by co-precipitation with calcium and iron as carriers. The data for Canadian reference rock SY-2 (syenite), U.S.G.S. reference rocks W-2 (diabase), DNC-1 (diabase) and BIR-1 (basalt), and South African reference rock NIM-18/69 (carbonatite) obtained by graphite-furnace atomization are compared with the values obtained by flame atomic-absorption. The results are in good agreement with literature values. (author)