Electron-probe X-ray microanalysis of individual particles of solid snow sediment with size factor correction.

Abstract A technique is proposed for X-ray electron-probe microanalysis (EPMA) of individual particles of solid snow sediment. Two sample preparation procedures were used to analyze the sediments. The PAP-method and the original bi-exponential model were used for matrix correction and the calculation of elemental composition. A method of calculating composition has been developed for approximately spherical individual particles, comparable in size with an area of X-ray generation. An analytical expression is proposed for determining the composition of these particles, taking account of their size. Including the size factor reduces the error of composition determination from 0.5–45 to 0.2–22% relative percent, for particles in the size range 1–3 μm.