Refinement of phosphorus determination in quartz by LA-ICP-MS through defining new reference material values

The aim of this study is to improve the quality of laser ablation inductively coupled mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). Over the last decade the Geological Survey of Norway has routinely performed trace element analyses of quartz from both operating and potential quartz deposits by LA-ICP-MS. The determined phosphorus concentrations are, with but few exeptions, consistently within the range of 10 to 30 µgg-1; results which seem to be too high and too consistent.