2011 Volume 80 Issue 11 Pages 935-941
Many geologists are highly interested in processes in rocks that operate at the microscopic scale such as mineral zoning and metamorphic recrystallization, which have implications for the larger scale behavior of Earth. To achieve this, a higher elemental sensitivity for the chemical and isotopic measurements at the micrometer scale should be achieved. The combination of the laser ablation technique and inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) is now a fast and reliable analytical technique for in situ trace element and isotopic analyses. With a better understanding of the mechanisms of laser ablation processes, the precision of isotopic ratio measurement has successfully been improved. In this paper, we describe the basic principles of the laser ablation-ICP-mass spectrometry technique and the wide versatility of the technique for the elemental and isotopic analyses of solid materials.
