Low-background neutron activation analysis: a powerful tool for atmospheric mineral dust analysis in ice cores

The application of instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) for multi-elemental analysis of samples of extremely reduced mass such as dust samples extracted from ice cores requires specific efforts towards the development of a "low level counting" analytical technique. An analytical...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry
Main Authors: Baccolo, Giovanni, Maffezzoli, Niccolò, Clemenza, Massimiliano, Delmonte, Barbara, Prata, Michele, Salvini, Andrea, Maggi, Valter, Previtali, Ezio
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: 2015
Subjects:
Low background NAA
Low level counting technique
Ice core
Atmospheric mineral dust
Multi-elemental analysis
ice core
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/11590/468672
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-015-4206-2
Description
Summary:The application of instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) for multi-elemental analysis of samples of extremely reduced mass such as dust samples extracted from ice cores requires specific efforts towards the development of a "low level counting" analytical technique. An analytical protocol specifically designed for this kind of samples, based on low-background INAA (LBNAA) is here presented. A first application of the method was successfully performed on samples from the new alpine firn core NextData-LYS12. Sub-ng detection limits were reached for many elements. According to this point the technique is also potentially suitable to be applied to polar ice core samples.

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