Issue 3, 2021

Multi-element analysis of minerals using laser ablation inductively coupled plasma time of flight mass spectrometry and geochemical data visualization using t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding: case study on emeralds

Abstract

In recent years, multi-element chemical analysis has been applied to a broad range of solid samples in mineralogy, geology, environmental science, biology and beyond. In this study, we present a quantification method for the multi-element composition of minerals and a statistical method to investigate chemical similarity among samples. We obtain almost the entire elemental composition simultaneously using laser ablation inductively coupled plasma time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-TOF-MS). A novel concept of “first measure, then determine” which elements are of interest is introduced for multi-element analysis of geological samples. This case study focuses on major, minor and trace element analysis of emerald, a highly relevant mineral in the gemstone trade. In total, 168 samples were analyzed without a priori knowledge of their geographic provenance. They were grouped/clustered solely based on similarities in multi-element concentrations using non-linear unsupervised dimension reduction algorithm t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding (t-SNE). A comparison with a PCA plot reveals that the application of t-SNE results in better cluster separation. The clusters in the t-SNE plot coincide with the geographic provenance of these emeralds, probably due to unique elemental fingerprints within the geological setting in each provenance. Based on our results, we consider LA-ICP-TOF-MS multi-element data acquisition in combination with t-SNE data visualization a powerful and promising tool in mineralogy and geology. Not only for provenance studies, but when combined with further sample characteristics (e.g. spectroscopic features, host rock composition, geochronology, inclusions) it may assist in understanding the geological formation and setting of minerals within their host-rock and their deposits.

Graphical abstract: Multi-element analysis of minerals using laser ablation inductively coupled plasma time of flight mass spectrometry and geochemical data visualization using t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding: case study on emeralds

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Technical Note
Submitted
23 nov 2020
Accepted
18 jan 2021
First published
18 jan 2021
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2021,36, 518-527

Multi-element analysis of minerals using laser ablation inductively coupled plasma time of flight mass spectrometry and geochemical data visualization using t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding: case study on emeralds

H. A. O. Wang and M. S. Krzemnicki, J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2021, 36, 518 DOI: 10.1039/D0JA00484G

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications, without requesting further permission from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given and it is not used for commercial purposes.

To request permission to reproduce material from this article in a commercial publication, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party commercial publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements