Progress of Analytical Methods of Rare Earth Elements of Carbonate Minerals in Carbonate Rocks

Solution-ICP-MS and LA-ICP-MS are the most common analytical methods for measuring rare earth elements in carbonate minerals of carbonate rocks.HCl and HNO3 not only can completely dissolve carbonate minerals in carbonate rocks but also dissolve some other minerals,and such will disturb the analytical results.CH3COOH,on the other hand,can avoid interferences from non-carbonate minerals,but probably cannot completely dissolve carbonate minerals in carbonate rocks,and such will also cause bias from the true result.LA-ICP-MS,which uses laser beam to ablate carbonate minerals and directly analyze rare earth elements contents in the evaporation,is an effective method for analyzing carbonate mineral crystals in carbonate rocks.But this method may also be questionable since the diameter of the laser beam may be too large to avoid tiny clay minerals in carbonate minerals.In summary,the results obtained by solution-ICP-MS and LA-ICP-MS on the shale-normalized REE patterns and their main parameters of carbonate minerals in carbonate rocks are comparable,and both methods can be used to trace the sedimentary environment.