Determination of Thallium in the USGS Glass Reference Materials BIR1G, BHVO2G and BCR2G and Application to Quantitative Tl Concentrations by LAICPMS

Here, we present determinations of thallium (Tl) concentrations in the USGS reference materials BIR-1G, BHVO-2G and BCR-2G measured by solution ICP-MS. The Tl content in these three glasses spans a range of about 2–230 ng g, which is similar to the values published for the respective powder materials. The determined range of Tl concentrations in these three glass reference materials makes them ideal for investigating Tl concentrations in basaltic and andesitic volcanic glasses. We also performed a series of laser ablation ICP-MS measurements on the three samples, which show that this technique is able to determine Tl concentrations in glass samples with concentrations as low as 2 ng g.