Comparative study of ICP-AES and XRF analysis of major and minor constituents on geological materials

Abstract The analytical capability of ICP-AES for the routine analysis of geological samples has been investigated. A comparison is made between two completely different analytical techniques — XRF where a fused disc is used and ICP-AES where the sample must be dissolved before measurement. Reproducibility of the complete ICP-AES technique is determined by analysing each of the 54 rocks 4 times, in 9 batches over a period of 9 days. The accuracy of ICP-AES is displayed by close agreement with XRF for a large number of elements over a wide concentration range.