Methods of analysis by the U.S. Geological Survey National Water Quality Laboratory; determination of whole-water recoverable arsenic, boron, and vanadium using inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry

[摘要] Analysis of in-bottle digestate by usingthe inductively coupled plasma?massspectrometric (ICP?MS) method has beenexpanded to include arsenic, boron, andvanadium. Whole-water samples aredigested by using either the hydrochloric acidin-bottle digestion procedure or the nitric acidin-bottle digestion procedure. When thehydrochloric acid in-bottle digestionprocedure is used, chloride must be removedfrom the digestate by subboiling evaporationbefore arsenic and vanadium can beaccurately determined. Method detectionlimits for these elements are now 10 to 100times lower than U.S. Geological Survey(USGS) methods using hydride generation?atomic absorption spectrophotometry (HG?AAS) and inductively coupled plasma?atomic emission spectrometry (ICP?AES),thus providing lower variability at ambientconcentrations. The bias and variability ofthe methods were determined by using resultsfrom spike recoveries, standard referencematerials, and validation samples. Spikerecoveries in reagent-water, surface-water,ground-water, and whole-water recoverablematrices averaged 90 percent for sevenreplicates; spike recoveries were biased from25 to 35 percent low for the ground-watermatrix because of the abnormally high ironconcentration. Results for reference materialwere within one standard deviation of themost probable value. There was nosignificant difference between the resultsfrom ICP?MS and HG?AAS or ICP?AESmethods for the natural whole-water samplesthat were analyzed.

[发布机构] U.S. Geological Survey

[学科分类] 地球科学(综合)