2018 Volume 27 Pages 1-12
We developed a new sequential chemical separation technique of Sr, Nd and Pb for isotope analysis. Chemical separation of these elements with high efficiency, high purity and low chemical blank was achieved by four steps of column chromatography using extraction resins as well as cation exchange resin with small column volumes. TRU resin, used in the second step of our separation scheme, extracts rare earth elements from sample solution with high efficiency. However, we found that the retention rate of Nd and the other rare earth elements on the TRU column is sensitive to the total amount of Fe loaded on the TRU column. Therefore, controlling the sample size by means of Fe concentration is essential in achieving high recovery rate of Nd when using TRU resin. Our chemical separation technique allows analyzing Sr-Nd-Pb isotopes from small sized samples such as micro-milled silicates and several pieces of foraminiferal carbonates.
