LA-ICP-MS (Laser Ablation - Inductively Coupled Plasma - Mass Spectrometer)

• Subject Area: Water Research
• Term: Funded in 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 565529578

The research focus of the applicant´s Applied Geology group is on inorganic hydrogeochemistry and water-solid interaction processes, especially regarding toxicologically relevant trace elements, their environmental occurrence and fate. Trace element sources, mobility and transport in the geosphere and their effects on groundwater resources are central to our research activities where we characterize and assess critically impacted areas with regards to the protection and sustainable management of natural resources. The analytical setup applied for here is the perfect addition to the group´s current geochemical laboratory equipment whereby the LA-ICP-MS is the key to thoroughly studying and understanding the full spectrum of solid trace element distributions in the natural and built environment. Together with its ability to quantify trace element concentrations in liquid samples (as ICP-MS), it will become the working group´s central research instrument in the years to come. The requested setup consists of an ICP-MS, combined with a laser for solid phase ablation. The envisioned ICP-MS is a triple quadrupole system, the laser will have a wavelength of 193 nm and enable small (1 µm) beam diameters. With this general instrument configuration, liquid samples (especially water samples, digestion and extraction solutions) can be analysed with the ICP-MS. Laser ablation for microscale geochemical analysis and mapping of solids (e.g., rock, mineral, sediment or soil samples; technical, biological or medical materials) is coupled with quantitative ICP-MS analysis. This allows both liquid and solid samples to be analysed with high precision and low analytical detection limits whereby switching between the two analytical modes needs to be quick and easy to handle. In addition to the applicant´s working group, the Institute of Geography and Geology as a whole will benefit from the new LA-ICP-MS, in particular to reconstructing climate and environmental change in young sediment cores. In Paleontology, a small beam laser ablation allows for measuring trace element concentrations in slow-growing coral skeletons or ostracode valves with a very high spatial resolution is required. The fine beam can avoid diagenetic cements, infiltrated sediment particles and biogenic encrustations in the porous coral skeletons, and thus increase the quality of the measurement results. In Mineralogy, it is planned to study the behaviour of polluting trace elements and REEs during adsorption to clay minerals, which requires rigorous mineral purification resulting in very small sample quantities that can be analysed by LA-ICP-MS using the finest possible laser spots to determine trace element concentrations. In Physical Geography, studying the adsorbed metals (e.g., Cr, Co, Ni, Pb) in lake sediment cores will be used as environmental archives where very low concentrations of trace elements are often decisive indicators of human-environment interaction.

• DFG Programme: Major Research Instrumentation
• Major Instrumentation: LA-ICP-MS (Laser Ablations Massenspektrometer mit induktiv gekoppeltem Plasma)
• Instrumentation Group: 1700 Massenspektrometer
• Applicant Institution: Universität Greifswald
• Leader: Professor Dr. Andre Banning