Comparative study of marine sediment from antarctica by low-pressure discharge atomic emission spectrometry and inductively coupled plasma-based spectrometry

Abstract

An alternative to conducting or non-conducting solid sample analysis, e.g., by ICP-AES or ICP-MS coupled with electrothermal volatilization or laser ablation, is offered by low-pressure discharge (LPD) AES sources, such as glow discharge or hollow cathode discharge AES techniques. This approach turned out to be particularly advantageous for the quantification of a number of major, minor and trace elements in Antarctic sediment sampled from the coastal region of the Ross sea nearby the Italian base at Terra Nova Bay. In order to ascertain the potential of LPD-AES in both respects, a number of elements, namely Al, Cr, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn, were determined after mixing sediment aliquots with high-purity copper powder and obtaining disc pellets by pressing the resulting mixtures. The results obtained were in good agreement with those achieved using ICP-AES and ICP-MS after microwave-assisted digestion of the sediment. The concentration ranges (µg g^–1) determined were Al 68410–70 500, Cr 40.1–41.9, Fe 19 210–23550, Mn 424–430, Ni 9.0–9.8, Pb 17.2–19.5 and Zn 51.8–53.2.