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Paper compares geochemical analyses of Tasmanian rocks

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A paper in Geochemistry, Exploration, Environment, Analysis, has been published by Zebedee Zivkovic and others from the University of Tasmania on a comparison of 4-Acid digest and total fusion ICPMS for whole rock analyses. The study used 654 rock-chip samples from Tasmania's Mount Read Volcanics, and associated sequences, and recorded lower recoveries of Zr, Hf, Nb, Ta, Ti and Eu from the 4-acid digest when compared with the total fusion results. However, they conclude that elemental ratios including Ti, Nb and Ta  (e.g., Ti/Nb) were largely preserved when using the 4-acid digest.

MRT funded the analyses for this study and the raw data set should be released later this year.

The paper, titled: Comparison of lithium borate fusion and four-acid digestions for the determination of whole-rock chemistry – implications for lithogeochemistry and mineral exploration may be downloaded here.