Accurate Determination of Zr Isotopic Ratio in Zircons by Femtosecond Laser Ablation MC-ICP-MS with “Wet” Plasma Technique

This work evaluates the use of femtosecond laser ablation multiple collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (fs-LA-MC-ICP-MS) for Zr isotopic analysis in zircons. The mass fractionation caused by instrumental mass discrimination was corrected by a combination of internal correction using Sr as an internal standard (coming from a NIST SRM 987 standard solution) and external correction using a matrix-matched standard. Several important instrument parameters were investigated, such as the effect of the addition of N 2 and “wet” plasma condition, the mass fractionation behaviors between Zr isotopes and Sr isotopes, the position effect in laser ablation cell and the effect of laser ablation parameters (laser spot size and energy density). The Zr isotope compositions of seven zircons (GJ-1, 91500, Plešovice, Rak-17, Paki, Aus and Mala) were determined by the developed fs-LA-MC-ICP-MS and thermal ionization mass spectrometry (TIMS). Our fs-LA-MC-ICP-MS results for Zr isotope compositions agreed with TIMS analyses within analytical uncertainties, indicating the presented method is a suitable tool to resolve isotopic zoning in natural zircons. The results also suggest that GJ-1, 91500, Plešovice, Paki, Aus and Mala had the homogenous Zr isotope composition and could be considered as the potential candidates for the Zr isotope analysis in zircons, except Rak-17 which presented the large Zr isotope variation.