Rapid online fractionated analyses of rare earth elements in a dinosaur fossil by mass spectrometry

Abstract

The “signatures” of rare earth elements (REEs) in fossil bones are used as proxies for provenance, taphonomy, and palaeoenvironment evaluations. However, measuring the content of REEs requires several steps, which is highly time-consuming. An online detection approach involving sequential leaching with mass spectrometry was developed to quantify REEs in dinosaur (Yimenosaurus species) bone. Five fractions of REEs (water-soluble, exchangeable, reducible, oxidizable, and crystalline) could be detected sequentially within 1 h and consume only 1 mg of sample. Most importantly, compared with traditional methods, our method was more accurate, faster (1 h), consumed less sample (1 mg), and could provide more information regarding the spatial distribution of REEs. Our method allowed rapid analyses of REEs in different phases and had good sensitivity and accuracy.