Trace Element Analyses of Spheres from the Melt Zone of the Greenland Ice Cap Using Synchrotron X Ray Fluorescence

• Published in: Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth
• Main Authors: Chevallier, P., Jehanno, C., Maurette, M., Sutton, S., Wang, J.
• Other Authors: Institut du Radium, Centre des Faibles Radioactivités (CFR), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Laboratoire Rene Bernas, Université Paris-Sud - Paris 11 (UP11), Department of Geophysical Sciences Chicago, University of Chicago
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 1987
• Subjects: [SDU.OCEAN]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Ocean; Atmosphere; [SDU.ENVI]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Continental interfaces; environment; Greenland; Ice cap
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-03545907; https://hal.science/hal-03545907v1/document; https://hal.science/hal-03545907v1/file/Journal%20of%20Geophysical%20Research%20Solid%20Earth%20-%2030%20March%201987%20-%20Chevallier%20-%20Trace%20element%20analyses%20of%20spheres%20from%20the%20melt.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1029/JB092iB04p0E649

International audience Synchrotron X ray fluorescence spectra of unpolished iron and chondritie spheres extracted from sediments collected on the melt zone of the Greenland ice cap allow the analysis of Ni, Cu, Zn, Ge, Pt, and Se with minimum detection limits on the order of several parts per million. All detected elements are depleted relative to chondritic abundance with the exception of Pt, which shows enrichments up to a factor of 500. An apparent anticorrelation between the Ni-content and trace element concentration was observed in both types of spherules. The fractionation patterns of the iron and chondritic spheres are not complementary and consequently the two iron spheres examined in this study are unlikely to result from the ejection of globules of Fe/Ni from parent chondritic micrometeoroids.