Multielement Determination of Trace Elements in Estuarine Waters by Txrf and Inaa

According to the BILEX concept [1], numerous trace elements have to be determined, down to very low concentrations, and — because of different transport properties — both in the dissolved and the particulate phase. Moreover, inflow-outflow balancing requires good precision and accuracy of the analytical data. These challenges demand the availability of complementary analytical methods which are economical and characterized by a high detection power, a large dynamic range (mg/kg down to ng/kg) and few sources of systematic errors. Furthermore, the capacity for multielement detection is desired since it facilitates the detection of many ecologically relevant trace elements.